Danger In Lexington
by EmilyA198527
Summary: After the murder of her parents, Ella found herself having her ex-boyfriend, Mark Callaway, being the one entrusted with her protection and care, but found herself unable to deny the old feelings coming back to her. Note: I am writing an actual story that this is based off of, and it will also be under the title "Danger In Lexington"
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

Opening the front door of her home she lived at with several other women her age, Ella riley walked out onto the front porch with her white and light pink sneakers causing thudding sounds with each stop she took on the hardwood floor of it. She took the time to straighten out her white tank top, and her light pink and white flared track pants before her hands moved up to where a black ponytail holder kept her long, curly, thick hair up and off of her shoulders.

_Today looks like a great day to go for a run. The sun is out…there isn't a cloud in the sky…and the early autumn air makes today the opportune time for me to head out before I have to be back in time to get ready for my dinner date with my mom and dad._

Ella looked forward to spending time with her mom and dad that night. She lived near them in the suburbs of Lexington, Kentucky, but missed staying with them and waking up to seeing their loving smiles as they laughed at one another from doing something stupid with each other the previous evening. They showed her how to stand on her own two feet with no one else helping her, and to not be too proud to ask for assistance when the time arose for her to need help in doing something that she knew she wouldn't be able to deal with on her own.

After finding her hair to be tight like she wanted it to be, Ella pulled the door shut behind her with a little force to it. She reached into one of her pockets on her pants, and retrieved her mp3 player and black ear buds. Ella placed her headphones on her ears as she began moving down the front stairs of the home with her music device in one of her hands.

"Good morning, Ella!"

She caught the sound of someone shouting at her before she started to turn on her mp3 player. Ella focused her attention in the direction of where the sound had come from.

Her eyes discovered Mrs. Nelson, a kind, little old lady, waving at her with her usual gardening clothes, as well as the large straw that she wore most of the time outside, on her body. She flashed a warm, friendly smile from where her body was on the other side of the white fence that separated their properties.

A smile danced across the soft, fair skin of her face from discovering the source of the voice to be that of her neighbor that she liked to spend time with sometimes, helping her around her home, and playing a game of cards with her. Ella lifted up her free hand, and waved towards her as she called back over to her from where she stood.

"Good morning, Mrs. Nelson." Ella said, loudly. Her southern accent drifted to the surface of her friendly tone in her voice, causing it to sound much louder than what it truly was at the moment. Bringing her hand back down by her side, she walked across the front lawn of her shared residence to the white fence as she spoke to her elderly friend. "How are you doing this fine day?"

"Well, I am doing a lot better now than how I was earlier that's for sure."

"Oh really?" Reaching the fence, Ella placed her arms across the top of it, lightly, while she maintained the conversation with her. "What happened earlier?"

"Well," Mrs. Nelson said, "for starters, Mr. Nelson woke up in his usual grumpy ass mood, and went off on everything from his clothes not being comfortable on his pudgy body to his coffee not being the right temperature until he finally left the house to visit with some friends. Then…It went from that to having to deal with these rude ass telemarketers that would not take the hint to leave me the hell alone."

Ella struggled to keep from letting out a loud laugh due to how her elderly neighbor was behaving towards her at the moment due to her husband's grouchy behavior and dealing with some customer service reps that wouldn't leave her alone. Her smile widened a little bit more towards her as she spoke up with a slight chuckle in her voice.

"I see…I am sorry that you have not had a good morning, Mrs. Nelson."

"It's all right, Ella. You don't need to apologize." Mrs. Nelson replied, calmly, with her southern accent causing her voice to come across very friendly, matching her body language to her. "So…How is your day going for you, my dear?"

"I am about to head off on a run before I have to get ready for dinner with my folks later on tonight."

"Where are they taking you to?"

"We are planning to go to the Black Stallion tonight, and get some steak-"

She stopped speaking, abruptly, to her neighbor due to the sound of sirens coming into the neighborhood. Ella turned her focus in the direction of the road that stretched out in front of her place.

Speeding past her, as well as her Neighbor's, residence, an ambulance raced down the stretch of roadway with two police cars following it from behind in the direction of her parent's place.

_Oh no…I don't like how this looks. I better go make sure that my parents are okay._

Stepping away from the conversation with Mrs. Nelson, Ella broke into a desperate run. She dropped her mp3 to the cement sidewalk in front of her home after she had yanked her ear buds out of her ears. Her body moved like an Olympic track star in the direction of where the emergency vehicles had went in.

Keeping her eyes on the paramedics and police officers, she watched in horror as they pulled out in front of her mom and dad's home, and brought them to an abrupt stop.

_No…It can't be. Nothing bad could ever happen to my parents in this neighborhood…right?_

Ella pushed her body even harder down the sidewalk. Her need to get to her family home fueled the increased speed in her pace. The urge to make sure that her parents were safe and sound begun to engulf her entire being.

She pushed her way through a crowd of people that had formed on the sidewalk to see what was going on. Her hands shoved at them in desperation as she struggled to get through the people that were blocking her way. Getting out of the group, her body was stopped by an officer pressing one of his hands firmly against the abdomen of her body.

"I am sorry, miss." The officer said, calmly, while he did his best to keep her back from the crime scene with everyone else trying to get closer. "You can't go any further."

"You have to let me pass!" Ella exclaimed. She spoke with heartache in her voice as her eyes filled up with tears. "This is my parent's home! Are they okay? What is going on? What has happened?"

"Miss…You need to stay back right now."

Her heart leaped up into her throat from the hesitant answer she got from the officer. A fear that something horrible had happened there ran rampant through her entire physique.

Looking around his body, Ella discovered the paramedics to be wheeling out two bodies in black body bags in the direction of where a nearby ambulance was nestled. The sight nearly caused her heart to stop working almost instantly. Her voice struggled to get out of her mouth for several moments before she released a loud cry that echoed to the heavens.

"Mom! Dad!" She screamed out in anger and sadness from the discovery of her parents no longer being alive, and inside body bags that would be taken to the local morgue.

Tears begun to fill her eyes as she held her stare on the paramedics wheeling her parents' bodies over to an awaiting ambulance that would take their corpses away. Her body trembled with unbridled sadness and anger. The knowledge that she had lost the two people she loved with all of her heart hit her hard with such intense emotions that she was nearly knocked down by them.

_They're gone…My parents…The people who have brought me into this world, and showed me unconditional love and support for all I have done…are dead. _

Ella's body locked up on the spot, prohibiting her to look away from the scene that was in front of her gaze or even move a few feet without help from someone else. Shock consumed her entire body, and left no area untouched.

Slowly, she began to register the officer's hand that had been on her abdomen moving to one of her shoulders, and pressing against the backside of them. Her eyes slowly managed to regain control, and turned their focus in his direction.

"Step over here with me, Miss Adams. " He said, politely, motioning her towards where a patrol car was parked. "I believe it would be best if we discussed about what happened in private."

Ella found the officer's words to make sense to her. She wanted to know more, but she didn't want her whole neighborhood hearing all the gory details as to how her parents died and if anyone was responsible for it.

Nodding her head, she walked with him over to where the parked vehicle was nestled as she held her arms, rubbing them up and down with her hands. She softly sniffled while her eyes blinked the last of her tears from her eyes that had started to form there. Ella pressed her back against a side of it, and watched the officer move in front of her with a somber look upon his face.

"Now that we are away from the people," She said, lowering her voice, "will you please tell me what happened to my parents so that way I might know what in the hell happened to them?"

"Ella," he said, removing his hat, and showing signs of nervousness in her direction, "your parents were found in the house with their wrists tied behind their backs with gunshot wounds to the backs of their heads."

"My…My parents were shot execution style?"

"Yes…Ella. It seems that whoever did this to your parents were trying to get some twisted point across by shooting like that…and also leaving a message on a wall that was written with their own blood."

Her heart jumped all the way up into her throat, nearly causing her to choke out a gasp. Finding out that someone was sick enough to execute her parents was one thing, but she found that their killer had wrote a message out on a wall in their own blood showed her the level of depravity that these people had went to.

She used all of her strength to get her vocal chords clear before her mouth managed to get her words out while her eyes were displaying an emotion of uncertainty that exuded from her inner self.

"Can…Can you please tell me what the message was that this sick asshole left behind?" Instead of her voice coming across as being soft like it had been a few moments prior, an unbridled tone of underlying anger started to drift into it. "What did it say?"

"The message the killer left behind said: Good people always think they are right about everything. You were not right about me, but I will take really good care of your sweet, beautiful daughter in your place."

She cringed in disgust at what the officer revealed to her. Her hands came to her face, and rubbed against the sides of it as she had started to pace back and forth along the side of his vehicle. Ella glanced over to the officer every few moments before she brought herself to stop in front of him with hatred pouring out in her speech.

"Please tell me that you have some idea as to who the hell this monster is."

"We are looking into some leads right now from the neighbors, and finding out from anyone in the area if they had seen someone go into the home before, during or after your parents stay inside the house."

"I appreciate that…I have to go back to my home." Her mind found itself under siege by the discovery of her parents' death and by the fact that some unknown assailant was now stalking her, and coming for her next. "I need to get back, and warn my friends about this deranged-"

"I am afraid that I cannot let you go back to your place, Ella."

She changed her facial expression to be that of curiosity with a hint of anger coming to the surface of it while her eyes remained focused upon the officer's eyes. Remaining in front of him, Ella moved her hands onto her curvy hips, and took a more defiant stand against him.

"Why am I not allowed to go back to my home that I share with my friends to even warn them about what is going on?"

"Since you are in danger, the police chief has decided that I am to take you to the home of someone that will be able to keep a sharp eye out for whoever this may be."

"I don't need a babysitter."

"I am quite aware of the fact that you don't need a sitter, Ella, and that you are a grown woman. However…I am afraid that this time you cannot talk your way out of doing something like you used to do when you were little with your parents."

"You have no idea how I was with my parents!"

"Calm down, Ella. I only wish to escort you there myself before some idiot tries to hound you for information."

_He is right. I shouldn't be getting so worked up over this like I am. I know that the police will do the best they can in solving the case as fast as they can, and me being out here in the open will endanger my life to a greater extent._

Taking in what the man said to her, Ella managed to nod her head up and down with ease before she turned in the direction of where the rear passenger side door of the vehicle was positioned. She caught the sound of tires squealing, and turned her head in the direction of the noise to discover it belonging to that of a black and red 2013 Charger.

_Oh no…It can't be him. Please don't let it be Aidan Byrne. I really don't need to deal with my ex-boyfriend right now. It is bad enough that he left town two years ago, and dumped me on the very same day, but I really do not want to see his face on the day that I lose my parents._

"Um…" Ella spoke towards the direction of the officer before her eyes focused in his direction. "That vehicle wouldn't happen to belong to Mark Callaway…would it?"

"Actually…It is Mark's vehicle. He is the person that my superior is wanting you to stay with until we find the person responsible for the murder of your parents."

_Great…Just fucking great…_

A soft groan of frustration escaped from her mouth as she leaned her back up against the vehicle, and lowered her head into her hands, refusing to look in the direction of the vehicle that just parked on the other side of the street opposite of where she stood.

_Why on earth does it have to be HIM? Why do I have to stay with the one person that broke my heart, and left me all alone on the same day? I don't want to be anywhere near him, but I am being forced to staying with him because of this maniac that killed my parents in such a cold way being on the loose. _

Her parents…The mere thought of them caused the image of them being carried out of their house in body bags to flash across her eyes. The realization that she wouldn't have them to go to and talk about what is going on with her or any issues hitting her that she would need their help with caused the waterworks to turn on in her eyes.

Unable to control herself, Ella softly cried against the palm side of her hands. She did her best to keep her cries softly as to not draw attention to herself. Her ears caught the sound of quickened footsteps in her direction and caused her to freeze like she was with her hands on her face.

"Officer Jenkins," Mark's voice said, calmly, "I have it from here. You can go on inside and see if the other officers need any help with the crime scene."

She hadn't seen him yet, but already a visual image of what he looked like appeared in her eyes. Ella could already see him being the attractive country boy that she fell hard in love with, and the same one that broke her heart just as hard. His piercing eyes could easily see right through any lie she would give him while his muscular physique took her breath every time she would see him without a shirt on. Ella could still feel the ends of the soft strands of his hair brushing across her face as they did the first time she had sex with him in the bed of his pick-up truck on the fourth of July weekend the previous year.

"Ella…"

Ella caught the sound of his deep, southern voice speaking to her in a soft, kind way. She could tell that he did not want to push this onto her from the way he spoke, but there was no doubt in her mind that the moment her eyes fell upon him that her tears would start to flow once again. She had such strong feelings for the man that hurt her that it caused her intense pain to be anywhere near him.

"Ella," Mark said, whispering to where only she could hear him, "I am sorry about what happened to your parents. It baffles my mind that someone would be so cruel and vicious to the two most kind hearted souls that I have ever known."

A soft gasp of frustration left her mouth upon catching him talking about how her parents were since he had walked out on her life and never so much a called her during the last two years, or even spoke to her parents. Keeping her hands over her face, she trembled while her voice shook on its way out of her mouth.

"That is something that I never thought I would hear from someone that never called them to chit chat with them…or even talk to me to let me know how you were doing in Los Angeles."

She wanted to be furious with him like she felt inside of herself. He had caused her many sleepless nights after he broke up with her, and left for California without so much as telling her a few minutes after he brought her home from the last date they had been on. Ella's face trembled slightly against the palms of her hands.

Her body froze all movement due to the warmth of Mark's hands moving across the backside of her hands, and slipping his fingers under them enough to get a hold on them. She watched them being removed from her face before her gaze could focus upon where he was standing before her with the tears still visible in her eyes.

Standing before her in a white button up short and black trousers, Mark's chiseled face displayed a look of pain and sadness upon seeing her to be crying in front of him. He hated it when she cried, and it killed him to leave her two years ago crying on the front porch of her parents place.

Ella's tears started to trick down the soft skin of her cheeks while her bottom lip quivered. Her emotions got the best of her as she started to speak to him in a shaky tone.

"Why did this have to happen, Mark?" She asked. "Why did my parents have to die in such a cruel way?"

She couldn't contain the feelings that burned deep within her from coming out of her. The death of her parents made her yearn for him to console her like he did when her grandmother passed away several years ago. She had a feeling that she would regret showing her weakness to him, but that didn't matter. All she wanted was him to hold her.

"They would never hurt anyone, Mark. Why…"

Instead of receiving a verbal request for him to hold her, Ella found his arms pulling her against his body, and sliding his hands around to the backside of her curvaceous frame. She slightly trembled due to one of his palms pressing against the small of her back while the fingers on his other hand worked their way into her curly hair. Her eyes blinked in awe of the situation she was in while she listened to the sound of his voice.

"I am sorry, Ella." Mark's deep voice didn't go above a whisper as he spoke to her. He released a soft sigh that dripped with the inner turmoil that was ravaging his body. "I wish that this never happened to your parents. They were good people…and you are the result of their kindness, caring, and loving acts towards the others in this community. From the bottom of my heart…I am so sorry for your loss."

Deep down inside of herself, Ella understood that she was playing with fire. There was no way that she could dance around the subject. The closer she was to his body, the more she craved for his affectionate kisses that took her breath away.

Her arms slowly started to move their way around the back of his body, and pressed her hands against the middle of his back with the gentlest of touches. She turned her head, and let her right cheek rest against the soft fabric of his shirt that he wore. With herself nestled within his arms, Ella released a soft sigh from the inside of her mouth, and let herself slip into the moment, focusing on only him and her.

"Thank you, Mark." She whispered, replying back to him with compassion dripping from every syllable she uttered. "I am very grateful that you would offer your regards when we lost touch with one another for such a long time."

"That is going to be changing as of now."

"What do you mean?" Ella straightened herself up upon catching what he said to her. She looked to him with her expression changing to exude curiosity and less sadness. "I don't quite understand what you are-"

"I am not going to be losing touch with you again now that you are to be staying with me."

"Yeah…but that is only temporarily, Mark. I am to only stay with you until the person who did this is put behind bars, and brought to justice."

"Are you willing to stand here right in front of me, and tell me that over the last two years that you never thought once about perhaps what it would be like if we were together out in L.A?"

The thought had crossed her mind many times. On the day he took off to Los Angeles, Ella had day dreams about him making the call to her that he was coming for her, and that he was going to take her to Los Angeles for them to be together for the rest of their lives. However, it was only a fantasy since he never came for her or even bothered to call her to let her know how he was holding up in California.

"I am not going to lie, Mark. I have thought of what it would have been like to go to Los Angeles with you on the day you left, and see how life would have went for the two of us. However…We are not together anymore, and that sort of puts a damper on any kind of idea you had going on in your head of some sort of reunion between the two of us."

Before she could get a response out of him, Ella caught the sound of someone shouting from the doorway of her parents' home in her direction. She focused upon the form of a police officer in the doorway for a brief moment before her eyes focused back onto him for another second as she spoke to him.

"Looks like you better get back to work, Mark."

"Yeah…The job of a detective is never done." Pulling his eyes away from the direction of the house, Mark put all of his focus upon her. He slid one of his hands on a side of her face, and gently rubbed his thumb against her skin in a gentle caress. "However…I am not done having this conversation with you, Ella. We will talk more about this when I get you to my home."

Her body shivered right to the core with unbridled desires boiling to the surface. She loved the way he touched her with the tips of his fingers, and how his words could cause her to go into the beginnings of a building orgasm. There seemed to be nothing about this man that couldn't turn her on.

Ella watched him slowly back away from her and head in the direction of the house with a sense of power and control in the long strides that he had took across the lush, green front yard.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

_I am glad to be back here, and to have the chance to get know Ella all over again. I just wish that it was under better circumstances. _

Mark couldn't deny that being around Ella brought back all the wonderful memories that he had of the two of them outside of town in the woods with only a sky of glittering stars and a full moon to be their light as they lied in each other's arms in the bed of his old truck with a country love song playing on his small portable radio he had at the time. He had missed being able to be like he was with her, and wished that he had taken her with him like he wanted to.

There would be plenty of time to pursue the newly presented chance he had at winning her heart back once he got her away from the crime scene. His main focus was getting out of there as quickly as he could, and get her out of the line of fire.

Ducking under the yellow police tape, Mark walked inside the house, and found the scene before him to be like something that one would only see in a horror film. His eyes danced over the blood that was on the floor where her parents had been shot to where things had been tossed around or torn apart from one another.

"Unbelievable…"He muttered underneath his breath. He couldn't believe the damage that was done so quickly at the very residence where he had picked Ella up for countless dates. "This should have never happened."

"You got that damn right, Callaway!"

The sudden sound of someone speaking towards him with frustration dripping from their voice caught him by surprise. Mark pulled his eyes away from the direction of where they were, and focused on the annoyed face of William Brighton, the police chief. He could tell from the way that he looked that he was not in a mood to really talk at the moment.

Mark took the time to walk around the area where the bodies were removed to avoid trampling over the evidence, and causing the crime scene to be compromised. He walked over to the far side of the room with his focus on his superior.

"Glad to see that you got here as fast as you could, Chief." Mark said, calm and firmly. His voice attempted to show a strong side despite the scene shaking him right to the very core of his being. "Any idea as to who is behind this?"

"As of right now…We are still lost on the whole subject as to who did this to Ella's parents." William replied. He released a soft sigh from the confines of his mouth at the same time one of his hands started to rub his head a bit due to seeing the gruesome sight before his eyes. "I have never seen such a gruesome sight in all of my years of serving in the police force, Callaway."

"This is what I was not wanting to be my first case when I came back to Lexington. My last thought would be to be working a murder investigation where the victims were the parents of my ex-girlfriend."

"How is Ella holding up?"

"She….She is doing her best to hold her head up right now even though I can tell she is very hurt, and needs someone to lean her head on right now."

"Good thing that you are here to help her out with that."

_Yeah…I just wish that I could offer her more than just a shoulder to cry on. I want her to be with me like we were before I left for Los Angeles, and broke her heart. She means everything to me, and seeing her in the pain that she is in right now breaks my heart. _

Mark turned his eyes away from the police chief, and focused in the direction of where a small trail of blood went into the family room. He follow the blood on the floor while keeping himself from stepping in it, and ruining the evidence by getting it onto the bottom of his shoes. His body stepped over the threshold of another room where the door had been almost ripped right off the hinges. Moving into the area, Mark focused his attention in the direction of a large bare wall.

Wrote across the beige painted wall, the very message that Ella had told him about was scrolled out before his own eyes in the blood of her mother and father. The sight spoke volumes of the depravity that the killer had went to in order to get his message across to the other officers and himself.

_This might just be the work of the Blood Artist. He would lash out at people, and then use their blood to paint cryptic art on the walls. However…He normally doesn't write out messages. Something seems a little off-_

A soft, feminine gasp caught him by surprise. Mark turned, and found Ella to be standing on the other side of the doorway with her hands covering the lower part of her face while her eyes were widened in horror at what she was looking at.

"Ella…" Mark moved quickly to where she stood on outside of the room, and turned her away from the cryptic message on the wall. His arms held her against his body with her face against the fabric of his shirt. He pained from feeling her shivering and shaking like she was while her mouth made shuddered, saddened noises against his top. "You shouldn't have come in here, darling."

"I know I shouldn't' have." Ella replied to him even though her voice was coming out muffled against his top. "But…I couldn't stay outside anymore. The people started to ask me questions, and I couldn't stand to be out there with them hounding me like they were."

_I really wish people would take the hint that someone who has lost someone they loved with all of their heart and soul does not want to talk about what happened. It is obvious that Ella is hurting, and anyone who is not smart enough to realize that she doesn't want to talk about it needs to have some sense knocked into them with a good old fashioned ass kicking._

He wanted to lash out at the people that were hounding his former girlfriend. Mark hated that she was being harassed by the neighborhood for more information in her saddened state when she needed to be consoled, and not hounded by them or reporters.

A soft sigh left from his mouth as he stood like he was with her like she was in his arms. His hands moved up and down her back in an attempt to calm her nerves while he spoke to her with only a wish to ease her of all of the problems troubling her.

"I am sorry for what the people were doing out there to you, Ella. Some people are totally idiots when it comes to rational senses. They only want to know what they want to know, and they don't care on the way they get the information."

"I had a feeling that was going to end up happening anyways." Ella spoke to him a little more clearly after she straightened herself up a little bit more in his embrace and looked up in the direction of his handsome face. "It was bound to happen either just now or when the story broke in the news later on tonight or in the following morning."

"It was my wish to get you out of here before their senseless harassment started though."

"It is not your fault, Mark. Those people out there are just stupid and are looking for anything they can get juicy information on to gossip about on Facebook, Twitter, or on any of the social networking sights that they use nowadays."

"It does not change that I need to get you of here while they are doing this. If they are already bothering you to the point where you are coming into this place to avoid them, then it is time to-"

His attention shifted from her to the faint sound of something moving around upstairs. Mark could tell that it sounded much like someone rushing around, and tossing some things down.

"Stay here, Ella."

He was brief with his words to her. His arms slipped away from her body in one fluid motion. Mark wasted little time in hurrying out of there through the living room. He cast a glance in the direction of the police chief, and focused on him from where he was at the doorway to the house.

"Brighton," Mark asked, "is someone upstairs right now?" He spoke with a tone of desperate firmness towards his direction. The need to know the answer was very noticeable in his voice to him. "Did you send any of your men upstairs to investigate the upstairs of the house?"

"No, Mark." William Brighton replied. He spoke with an intense amount of curiosity burning deep within it as he kept his focus primarily on him. "I have not told any of my men to go upstairs."

"That is what I thought." Mark reached behind his back, and retrieved the handle of his black pistol that he tucked away to keep on the ready in case he needed it. He made sure that the weapon was ready to be shot if the needed rose up for it to be. "I am heading upstairs to investigate. If Ella comes in this direction, do your best to keep her from coming up the stairs for as long as you can."

"You got it, Callaway."

Pulling his eyes away from his superior, Mark slowly started up the stairs of the two story, colonial inspired home that Ella and her parents had called home since the day she had been born at the Lexington Hospital. His movements were slow, and fluid up the stairs, the pace of a predator hunting for its prey.

_If the person who committed this crime is upstairs and waiting for Ella to make her presence known…they are in for a real shock._

His anger for the individual, who had killed her parents, as well as the idea of them still being there and waiting for her to come up the stairs, rose to the surface. He wanted to rip out the throat of the person who could still be there and hiding.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Mark slowly moved over to the closed door of Mr. and Mrs. Adams' bedroom. He moved to a side of the room, and placed his free hand on the door knob. Mark twisted the handle without making much noise, and slowly started to press against it.

Opening the door, his eyes found the room to be undisturbed, and no sight of anyone being in there that shouldn't be there.

He moved away from the opened door towards the bathroom that was between Ella's old room she used to stay in and her parents' bedroom. His free hand reached out, and moved around the door handle before he silently opened it up enough to peer inside in order to investigate the area properly.

Before he could get the door opened enough, the sound of glass breaking in Ella's room stopped all further investigation on the bathroom.

"You are not getting away that easily." Mark muttered. He moved quickly to the door to Ella's room with fiery hatred in his voice. "I am going to enjoy taking you down in the way I plan to do so."

He grabbed onto the handle, and gave a tug on it. Mark discovered the door to the room to be locked from the inside. He took a few steps back from the door with him letting out heated breaths. One of his legs lifted off the ground, and drove the bottom of his foot against the door with enough force that it caused it to nearly slam into the wall behind it. He moved inside the room with the gun drawn, and focused on the surroundings.

The room looked like a war zone. All of Ella's photographs that she had won awards for in high school were ripped from the walls, and lied in tatters on the floor among all of the paintings that she had done during her high school career, her bed clothes, and a topped shelf . On the other side of the room, a set of white curtains swayed side to side in a light breeze blowing inside the room from the broken opening in the window that had been smashed from the inside.

"Damn it." He lowered his voice to a heated whisper. His frustration with having lost the person that had been hiding in there lingered just below the surface of his body. He had been so close, but still so far away from the person who had been hiding out in the safety of Ella's old bedroom. "He might have gotten away this time…but I will get him."

Mark tucked his gun back behind his back in the spot where it had been hidden from sight beforehand. His eyes darted around the floor at the mess that the person had created in such a short amount of time. He knew that Ella would be highly upset at the sight of her paintings she worked so hard on being in the floor with the tattered remains of her photographs.

Ella loved the arts with all of her heart and soul. That was what the initial attraction was for him to be drawn to her besides her curvy frame, and her addicting laugh. He admired how she passionate she was about all forms of art, and wanted to enhance her ability at each different form. His mind recalled images of her working on her paintings for long hours before she would eventually pass out with him in her room without her parents knowing, and of her dancing before a crowded assembly of students to showcase her international dancing prowess.

A soft chuckle escaped from his mouth while his mind lingered on the visions, wanting to soak them in. He wanted so much to see that lively smile that was nestled under all the sadness for the loss of her parents and the anger she still had towards him breaking up with her. It didn't need to be said, but he could tell that she was highly pissed with him for what he had done to her.

Kneeling down on the floor of her room among the tossed items, Mark begun to put some articles of her clothing on top of the bed to keep them from getting anymore dirty than they already were. He eased some of the torn photographs onto the bed as well, trying to keep them all together. His eyes fell upon a particular piece of canvas paper that was hidden underneath the front of the bed. Mark reached under, and pulled out the object to look upon it.

Nestled within his hands, a sketch of Mark and Ella nestled in the back of his pick-up truck, looking to each other with love in their eyes as their foreheads were touching, was clear as day on the piece of parchment paper that she used frequently to draw her sketches out before she turned them into her paintings.

_I…I never knew that she drew this of us. This is of the last time that we were together out in the boonies and away from the lights and noises of the city. We had just had dinner at a little diner, and I took her out into a field to just watch the shooting stars overhead. I asked her what she wanted more than anything, and…_

It dawned on him exactly why she was hurt and angry with him for walking back into her life like he had after he had left hers so abruptly. Ella's wish that she wanted to come true more than anything else was for her to always be with him, and to have his love and protection until the day that they died with each other when their hair is silvery gray and wrinkles are upon their faces.

_How could I be so blind as to not see this? She was wanting me to always stay with her…and I was so focused on myself that I couldn't see it._

The sketch fell from his hands once his grip on it had loosened on it. Mark brought his hands up, and ran them over his face, gently. His frustration turned onto himself. He had left a good thing behind to chase after his goal of becoming an upstanding detective in his profession.

Dropping his hands down by his sides, a look of determination washed over his piercing stare as a new goal formed inside his mind. Regardless of what happens with the capture of the person who had murdered her parents, Mark was not going to let Ella slip out of his hands for a second time. There was no way that he was going to lose her now that he had the opportunity to right the wrong that he made to her.

Ma mrkoved to his feet, and turned his gaze towards around to face the direction that her bed was facing in. His eyes widened in dismay upon discovering the large mirror on Ella's old dresser to have a message written in red paint upon it. He moved closer towards it, and focused upon it.

Upon the glass that reflected his own image, a message in red read: You will never have Ella, Detective Callaway. I will personally see to your demise, and make sure that you never get want you want by any means necessary.

_Okay…This person is going too far now. Now they are threatening not only my happiness, but also threatening to do something to Ella to make sure that I don't have a chance to get back with her after having reunited with her just briefly. _

A rage unlike anything else burned deep inside of him upon discovering the warning that was left on the mirror for him to find, stating that this person would do all that they could to keep him from getting what he wants, and that included Ella. He couldn't ignore how the discovery made him burn with enough heat to burn out the sun.

He shook his head as he focused on the writing on the mirror that reflected and displayed his pissed off expression on his chiseled features. His eyes caught sight of Ella's body coming into sight of the mirror to a side before he spun around to discover that it was not just his imagination but that she was really there with him.

"What are you doing up here, Ella?" Mark asked, curious to know how she got up there with so many officers around. "I instructed-"

"This is my home, Mark." Ella replied, firmly She was not shy about standing her ground in his face despite possessing strong feelings of attraction for him. "The officers downstairs do not control where I go in this place."

"Did you throw your weight around again?"

"If you call me putting the rookies in their place by reminding them that it would only take one pissed off girlfriend to turn them from a man into a woman with just a flick of the wrist pushing my weight around…then yes, I did throw my weight around as I usually do with pricks like them."

"You really need to be a little nicer to the officers downstairs, Ella. I mean…You are going to be surrounded with them until we find the person who broke into your family's home, and murdered your parents like they did."

Mark couldn't help, but admire the fact that she was still as fiery as she always had been around him. The way she could tear a man down with just a simple phrase was a big turn on for him. There was something about her being brazen and bold with people in the police field that excited him, and couldn't keep a faint smirk from dancing across his face.

He walked over to where she stood at the foot of her bed, and turned his full attention away from the mirror towards her. His eyes focused on her angelic face as hard as he could in a desperate attempt to keep his eyes from traveling down her body to soak in the rest of her gorgeous body. Mark yearned to pull her back into his arms, and seal her into a passionate kiss with him to show her how much she truly excited him. However, he knew that if he moved too fast with his former girlfriend she would more than likely take off for the hills.

Holding his stare on her face, Mark released a soft breath from the confines of his strong lips before he could speak up to her. "Ella…It would be best right now if I got us both out of here as quickly as possible."

"What is going on, Mark? What is the message on the mirror talking about?"

"Ella…whoever murdered your parents…is going to make sure that they take you away from me, and keep me from getting what I want beside bringing them to justice for their actions."

"Mark…I don't know who the hell this person is, or why in the world they would go to this length of destroying my old bedroom, and leaving a warning on my dresser's mirror."

"I know you don't know who this is, Ella. You are not the type of person that would keep suspicious company."

"What does this have to do with you though? You did say that this person's message was focused on making sure that you didn't get what you want most of all. Why would this person be wanting to go after you to such lengths to remove me from you?"

_I know you are smarter than that, Ella, and you know very well the reason why this person would intervene between the two of us, and take you from me._

Deep down, Mark struggled to keep his distance from her, but found that diminishing from him. He focused on her beautiful eyes as his body moved a little closer to her own. One of his hands lifted up, and gently brushed several strands of her hair from her face with his fingers dancing across her cheek in the process.

"You know very well the answer to that question, Ella." He spoke in a much deeper, sensual tone to her, revealing his inner feelings and emotions for her and only her. "Besides tracking down this person, and arresting them for what they have done to your family and yourself…I am taking my place as your boyfriend once again."

"E-Excuse me?" Ella asked; shocked by the response he had given to her. "What did you just call yourself to me?"

"You heard me the first time, Ella." With his body close to hers, Mark moved one of his hands down her arm to where her hand was, and slid his fingers between hers, gently. "No one is going to take my place as your boyfriend. I am back…and I am not going to let someone move in without a fight."

"I believe you are failing to realize that we are not together anymore, Mark. Remember? You broke up with me, not the other way around."

"We might not be together right now…but that doesn't mean that it won't happen."

"Mark-"

Before he could let her finish her sentence to him, Mark found himself becoming overwhelmed with a need to hold her in his arms. He pulled her against his body, and wrapped his strong arms around her curvy frame, pulling her into his embrace with a need to feel her against himself. His head rested against the top of her head as he spoke to her with his mouth pressed against the top of her silky hair.

"Please…Just…Let me hold you like I used to for a while, Ella. I need this right now with all that is going on. Just let me stay like this with you for a while before we go down before the officers, public, and camera people waiting outside."


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

Ella fluttered her eyes from the sudden sensation of Mark's arms wrapping around her body, and holding her firmly against his own body. She struggled to understand why on earth he would be compelled to hold her against his frame for a little while before they went down to face the police officers, the curious public, and the unrelenting reporters that had made themselves known outside her parents' home.

From the way that he had spoken to her and how his body trembled against hers, Ella started to become aware of exactly how much he wanted her back in his life, and that frightened her to the very core of her being.

He had left her with a broken heart two years earlier, and he never called her even one time to let her know if he was okay, how he was doing, or if even missed her at all. She had her reasons to force his arms off of her, and free herself of a fear that ravaged her entire body. Ella didn't wish to have her heart broken a second time by him.

Her body struggled within his arms for freedom before things went to the point where she wouldn't be able to free herself of his powerful embrace and his desires that burned within him for her. She begun to notice his strong arms tightening even more around her body to prevent her from escaping.

"Mark," Ella spoke to him, softly, "please let me go." She hoped the tone she used with him would entice him to release her. "You need to let me go-"

"I don't need to release you, and I don't plan on letting you go." Mark whispered. His unbridled need to have her back by his side rose in his voice, and became noticeable as clear as day. "I was stupid to let you go before…I am not going to make the same mistake twice."

His response only increased her need to get away from him. She couldn't let him get back into her heart only to break it once again, and leave it beyond repair.

Ella pressed her palms against his top, and pushed against him in another attempt to free herself from his hold that he had over. She managed to push her upper body back only slightly from his, and tilted her head up to shoot him an icy cold glare to get the rest of herself away from him.

It seemed as if her intent on rebelling against him went south upon gazing into his piercing stare that looked down at her with unadulterated passion pouring out from them towards her. The moment her eyes made contact with his, she started to become overwhelmed by similar sensations that slowly begun to cause all of her muscles to tighten with need for him.

_Don't do it, Ella. Do not give into the temptation that is right in front of your eyes._

Her conscience desperately tried to keep her from giving into the heat of the moment with a person that had her heart, and broke it before only to have it shattered once again.

However, Ella couldn't deny how wonderful it felt to have herself in his gaze once again. She loved the way he held her in his eyes with only passion for her within them. Keeping her gaze focused on his face, she watched him slowly lean a little closer to her as he whispered to her in the same way that he used to.

"Ella…Regardless of me being a Los Angeles detective…I am still the same country boy that loves to go out hunting, fishing, camping…and spend every moment that I can thinking about you." Mark spoke from the heart to her, laying all of his cards on the table. "I am the same person that loved you then…as I love you now."

Her heart swelled with emotions that she had not possessed since the last time she spent alone with him while images of their past together flashed before her eyes, one right after the other.

She lowered her eyes from his, and focused upon where his strong mouth lingered ever so closely to that of her own. Her mouth trembled with a need to taste the lips that stole her breath way in the past.

Before her lips could utter anything that could easily talk him out of the current situation they were both in, Ella's mouth was sealed by a passionate kiss from the only man that she ever loved and had her heart broken by. An overwhelming sensation of pleasure unlike any she had encountered before rushed through her body without warning and mercy. The feeling nearly took her right off of her feet.

Her arms wrapped around the back of his neck to maintain her balance, and prevent herself from falling onto the tattered remains of her photographs and paintings that were still on the floor. She begun to move her mouth against his in urgency to absorb as much as she could of hiss kisses before the moment would end.

She rubbed his body with a sexual desire to be as close as she could be to him. The fabric of her top brushed against her bosom's movements against his strong upper body. Her breasts firmly pressing against his chest with only the fabric of their clothing keeping them from eachother's skin.

A muffled sound escaped from her mouth into his in the instance that she found his tongue working its way inside of her lips, and his strong hands sliding down her body to the backs of her thighs. The level of pleasure and passion increased tenfold once she noticed his palms to be pressing against her body just a little bit under her firm buttocks.

Ella slowly started to run her tongue over his, massaging his in gentle strokes, as she found him entangling his body with hers to be that much closer with absolutely no space between the two of them. Her womb tightened with an indescribable need to feel him inside her, taking her right there in the privacy of her old bedroom.

_Wake the hell up, Ella! Your parents just died in the very house you are in, and all you are doing is making out with the man who dumped you two years ago. Let's not forget that there other officers downstairs looking all over the place. What is going to stop one of them from coming up here, and walking in on Mark and you sucking each other's face?_

Her conscience was right. There was nothing to stop any of the people downstairs from bursting into the room, and finding her making out with the lead detective that had come from Los Angeles to track a murderer.

Slowly coming to her senses, Ella forced herself out of the kiss with him. She looked to the shocked look upon his face from her move to end the moment that they were both sharing with one another.

"What is wrong, Ella?" Mark asked, confused about her course of action. "Did I do something wrong? Did I push you too far?"

"No…" Ella replied. Her breaths escaped from her mouth in huffs and puffs as she spoke to him while trying to bring her breathing back to normal. She took a moment to get her heart to stop racing like it was in order for her voice to sound a little more normal. "You didn't do anything wrong, Mark."

"Then…Why did you push me away?"

"It's not that I didn't like it. It's just…" Ella moved away from him, and went to where her dresser was. She pressed her palms against the wooden surface, and bowed her head. A soft sigh escaped from her mouth before her voice did. "I don't think right now is the best time for us to pursue any type of physical intimacy with each other for the time being."

She silently cursed at herself for turning him down in the way that she did. She wanted to feel his passionate kisses trailing from her mouth to the nape of her neck, and his body against hers with nothing separating them. It was only the fact that there was people around that could walk in on them, and that she was above the spot where her parents were murdered that made her turn from a possible sexual rendezvous with her former boyfriend.

"We can't do this, Mark…"

"You don't mean it, Ella." Mark spoke to her with pleasure and desire dripping from each word he said to her. "I know you too damn well, and you are only saying that to try work your way out of something that you were enjoying just a few moments ago."

Damn it. She was hoping that his memory was not sharp, and that he would have forgotten how she used to give him in order to avoid any kind of sexual interaction earlier on in their dating. His response to her proved though that he was on his A-game with her.

Her body begun to tremble with excitement from the sensation of him moving against the backside of her body, and his strong, powerful hands sweeping across her abdomen to rest one on top of the other. Slowly, she eased herself up, and rested her back against his muscular chest. Her eyes focused upon their reflection in the glass with the cryptic message covering most of it.

"How is it possible that you remember things about me from when we first started dating when we haven't been speaking to one another in the last two years?

"Like I have told you, Ella. Every moment that I can spare, I used it to think about you and remember all the good times we had with one another prior to my leaving for Los Angeles."

"Do you ever think about the bad times?" Ella couldn't stop the smirk from forming on her face, and spreading into a grin from her mind recalling back all the times that him and her were at each other's throats. "I am sure that you haven't forgotten all those times when we would be out in the woods, and we would be at each other's throats from the other one doing something stupid, reckless, or just plain irresponsible."

"Like I am sure that you haven't forgotten that most of the time it was something that you would do that angered me enough to say a horrible remark to you."

"This then would cause us to have a huge brawl with one another in the area that we would be in."

Her body started to become more relaxed within his embrace, and less resistant to his advances on her. The way that he held her, both in his arms and eyes, made her will to fight him greatly diminish.

Ella watched him move his mouth to a side of her neck in the mirror before she registered its warmth spreading to every corner of her body, engulfing her sense. A soft noise resembling a moan escaped from her mouth before she could stop it. She tilted her head to the side, and reached up with one of her hands to cradle the back of his head.

"You forgotten something else, Ella." Mark's voice had a muffled sound to it as he placed sensual kisses along the soft skin of her delicate throat. "There was a plus to us fighting with each other, and having our little brawls."

_Oh my god…This feels so good right now. His kisses make it so hard to be against him, and my own lustful wishes. I can't keep myself from falling head over heels from the way he holds my body in his arms, caressing my skin with his strong hands, and placing hot, sensual kisses on me with his strong lips._

She allowed another moan to slip out of her mouth at the same time her head leaned back a little farther, and ran her fingers through his hair. Ella slowly turned her head, and focused upon the very face that mesmerized her, and made her burn with an intense desire.

"Oh really?" She asked. Her mouth lingered a few inches from his as she spoke to him with a need for him oozing from her voice. "What have I forgotten?"

"How about after every time that we would fight, we would spend the remainder of the night in each other's arms underneath the moonlit sky until the rays of the sun woke us up the following morning."

"Oh yes…I do remember the nights where we would be spending the evening with one another on the cool earth with our arms wrapped around one another, and our heads against each other."

"So, I think that our fights is more of a good thing than a bad thing like you first assumed it to be, Ella. Even though they would start out bad for us, it always ended good."

"I suppose so…"

"I know so."

"You don't have to be cocky about it, Mark."

"Just like you don't need to be dramatic about us being like this when there is absolutely nothing wrong with it."

"You are certainly not behaving in a professional manner, Detective Callaway." Ella changed her voice to exhibit the same kind of sarcastic tone that he had begun to use with her. "I am sure that your colleagues downstairs would be surprised at the sight of you trying to put the moves on someone that you are supposed to be protecting."

"Just like I am sure that if the officers and neighbors knew about you making the moves on me, that they would be intrigued by how someone that was crying a moment ago could move so quickly into the arms of her ex-boyfriend."

She didn't like him being smug, but hated it when he was being smug and honest about something. Ella knew that he was right though. If the officers downstairs, as well as the people she grew up around that were still outside, found her with him like she was that she would be looked down upon, and called a number of unkind words. So, she chose to not push the issue with him.

With her eyes locked on his, she caught the faint sound of someone moving up the stairs at a quickened pace. Panic hit her body without allowing her any mercy or sympathy. The knowledge of someone coming up there, and possibly heading in the direction of the very room she was in with Mark's arms wrapped around her body that was pressed against his scared her right to the very core of the essence of her being.

Without wasting a single moment, Ella quickly removed herself from his body, and made sure that there was a reasonable amount of space between them. She frantically looked around the room in an attempt to focus on something else to make it seem like she had not been with him like she had been.

Her eyes caught sight of one of her porcelain dolls that her grandmother gave to her at Christmas on the floor of her room among the shattered remains of the other dolls that had been smashed to a million pieces. Besides the little girl that was dressed in a baby blue Victorian outfit, one of her breakable arms was clear in sight.

She tightened with an overwhelming sadness starting to ravage her body from her discovery. Her frame knelt down on the ground before she reached out with her hands. Ella grasped onto the remains of her beloved doll that was the last gift she ever received from her grandmother before she had passed away with lung cancer the previous year. Her hands moved the doll into one of her arms, cradling it like a newborn baby, as her attention was on its tiny face.

"My beautiful Marie…" She whispered, aloud, to the porcelain little girl in her arm as if she was a real human being. "What has this person done to your tiny body? What kind of person would even dream to do something like this to someone as beautiful as you?"

Keeping her focus solely on the breakable little girl, Ella caught the sound of a knock at the door. She didn't bother to move since her ears caught the sound of Mark already rushing to the door of her bedroom. Ella kept the doll in her arms as she moved her eyes in the direction of where the door was, and watched Mark opening it up to reveal Officer Jenkins to be on the other side of it.

"Detective Callaway," Jenks said, politely and softly, "I just wanted to make sure that you were still up here, and that the person was hiding out up here until we left."

"You don't have anything to worry about, Jenkins." Mark replied firm yet calmly. He forced himself to keep his eyes on him even though he wanted to move his eyes over in the direction of where his southern beauty was nestled on the floor of her room with her most precious doll in her arms. "I scared that man off long time ago when I first came up the stairs to investigate a sound that I heard from downstairs."

"Did you get a look at him?"

"No…By the time I got in here, he had broken out the window, and made his escape through it. "

"Do you think that he is still around in the area then?"

"I have a sinking feeling that may be the case, Jenkins, and that I need to remove Ella from the area as quickly as possible before this mad man makes a return to seek vengeance on us for preventing him taking another course of action."

Ella decided that she needed to speak up, and let the two men know that she was still there, and not an object that didn't have a voice. She rose to her feet, and walked across the floor to where the two were standing face to face with one another.

"Gentlemen," she said, "I am perfectly safe with everyone that is in the home right now. I am sure there is no reason for me to be rushed out of sight."

Her eyes caught Mark and Jenkins turning their full, undivided attention onto her face, as well as on her body, once she had spoken up to make her presence known them. She could tell that Jenkins was appearing more like he had while Mark had a possessive look growing deep within his gaze towards her.

"With all respects, Miss Adams," Mark said, attempting to appear more professional and less like the person who he truly is, "I believe that right now would be the best time for us to leave before something else happens."

"Detective-"

"Let's be on our way."

Ella watched in surprise at Mark walking towards her with the possessive side oozing out even more from his gaze. She trembled a little more once her back registered his hand pressing against the small of her back, and moving her out of the room in the direction of the stairs, leaving Jenkins behind in her old bedroom.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

"You didn't need to try and sway Jenkins to persuade me into letting you remain here anymore than you need to be." Mark whispered. He spoke with frustration highlighting itself in his deep voice upon Ella's attempt to remain there. "It wasn't very nice to see you obviously flirting with some rookie cop."

"How in the hell can you call what I said in there to be flirting?" Ella asked, curiously. She kept her voice to a whisper like his to prevent Jenkins from hearing what they were talking about. "All I did was state that I was safe with so many people around in the immediate area, and that there was no way that my life would be threatened."

"You were using the same kind of southern charm that you used on me when I first met you at that bar downtown."

"I have had that southern charm long before we ever met, Mark. It is not something to tempt men into letting me get what I want."

Once he had moved her halfway down the stairs out of Jenkins' range of sight, Mark turned towards her on the stairs, and place his other hand on her midsection to prevent any further movement on her part. He sensed her body to be trembling underneath his warm palm while tightening at the same time.

_I still got it…For a moment, I was afraid that I had lost the ability to freeze in her tracks by just my hand pressing my hand firmly to her midsection. Glad to see that I still have that ability._

A faint smirk danced across his face upon finding Ella's arousal to be growing deep inside the pit of her stomach despite her facial expression revealing an inner struggle to keep her desires beneath the surface. He brushed his fingertips across her abdomen while his mouth moved to one of her ears.

"You can try to fight this as much as you want, Ella," Mark whispered, "but I know who you really are, and what it takes to get you turn into putty in my hands." He lowered his voice to where it was full of nothing but lust that only Ella could fully satisfy. "There is nothing about you that I don't remember, and don't love."

"Damn you, Mark." Ella shivered with the emotions that she had been struggling to keep in check for the last few moments with him. "You always have to revert to using your hands to getting what you want."

"If that was the case…we would be having sex upstairs right now on your bed if that confounded officer hadn't come up, and knocked on the door, interrupting the moment."

Mark caught her whipping her head in his direction with a fiery, angered look upon her face to mask the obvious attraction he knew that was nestled inside of her.

"How dare you?! You talk about us having sex in a way that cheapens it, and makes it seem more like two baboons in heat."

"That was not my intention, Ella." A faint grin started to morph onto his face despite his best intention to not show one. "Even though…We did get close to being like two baboons in heat during your birthday weekend."

His eyes caught one of her hands lifting up from her side, and moving to slap him across his face in response to what he said. His hand moved from her midsection to catch her wrist before it could bring her palm into contact with the side of his face that she had aimed for. Mark pulled her closer against him right there on the stairs with officers downstairs in the living room, and an officer upstairs in her bedroom, revealing his unconcern about them being found out.

"I am sorry if I offended you with that little statement, Ella." Mark kept his voice not above a whisper as he spoke to her in a sensual way that would speak to her passionate side. "However…I am not going to lie about something that happened between us."

"You don't have to make it out to be so cheap, Mark." Ella replied. Her soft, whisper shivered on its way out of her mouth due to the sudden closeness between him and her on the stairs. "That is what made me more mad than anything else."

"As I stated already…It was not my intention to make it appear that way to you."

"Very well…"

Mark's gaze started to get lost in the stare he was receiving from his ex-girlfriend. The way that her dark brown eyes were locked on his with an underlying sexual hunger trying to reveal itself made it very obvious to himself. She was becoming aroused right there on the stairs due to there being no space between them just as he was.

The obvious closeness between her and him made his hormones go into overdrive. He didn't care that there were people around that could catch them on the stairs like they were. All he wanted was to spend as much time he could manage to spare with her, and showering her with the affection that she had not received from him in the last two years.

_Remember the task at hand, Mark. There is a crazed murderer on the loose, and you need to focus on getting Ella out of here before the idiot tries to be brazen enough to come into this house with the people who are in it right now since he didn't care to be upstairs a few moments ago with the police officers downstairs. _

Even though he truly wanted to ignore what his conscience was whispering to him, Mark knew it was right. There was someone out there that who would make another attempt on Ella's life, as well as on his own life since he was assigned to keep her safe from whoever it was that killed her parents. He needed to focus on getting her out of there as quickly as he could manage instead of his own desires and lusts.

Pushing his passionate emotions to the side, Mark eased her wrist out of his hand, and brought it back to rest at his side as she moved her hers back as well. He kept his other palm against the small of her back in the gentlest of ways. His hand gently pushed against her body, guiding her down the rest of the stairs.

"There you two are!" Mark's superior spoke firmly towards Ella and himself once he caught sight of them to be walking into the living room where he had been waiting on them. His hands were nestled upon his hips as he shot them both an icy glare. "I was starting to think that I was going to have to come hunt you two down if you didn't show up."

Normally, Mark didn't mind it when his boss would be firm with him since he normally couldn't hold it, and ended up showing his sense of humor to him. However, he found him to be rather serious this time with him when he spoke. He tried to maintain a strong, fearless persona in front of his former lover while his boss had caused him to experience a slight amount of intimidation inside of himself.

_Just remain calm, Mark. You can't let Ella see you being nervous around Brighton. It will make a bad impression, and cause you to appear more as a scaredy-cat or a wuss than the person she remembered that used to fight any guy that would look at her in the wrong way or say the littlest snarky remark about the way she looked or who she was._

Mark's muscles in his throat took a few moments to clear out his vocal chords of anything that would keep his voice from coming across anything less than his normal, powerful yet confident tone.

"I am sorry, Brighton." Mark said. He was grateful that his voice possessed the sound he was going for and not what he feared it would come out as. "Miss Adams and myself were inspecting the condition of her room, and a second message that was left behind by our killer."

"There is a second message?!"

"Yes, sir. The person inscribed it on her dresser's mirror either before or after they completely demolished her bedroom."

"Is anyone up there right now in her old room to look over it for any evidence this person could have left behind?"

"Officer Jenkins is upstairs in her room looking it over as we speak, sir."

Mark's eyes glanced over towards Ella, and found her to appear very uncomfortable and left out during their conversation. He got the feeling from her that she was feeling more like an object that was to stand in silence, and not to make a single word until she was needed to do something for either one of them.

He hated to see her upset like she was. Ella's smile brightened up his mood when he would be experiencing a bad day, but found her current expression to make him more concerned than anything else.

Mark turned his focus upon the chief, and regained the firm tone he had in his voice earlier as he spoke to him.

"Brighton, I am going to take my leave with Miss Adams." His focus was on ridding Ella of the stress that her body, mind, and spirit was under, and not on making his boss happy. "Once we are at my home and I have made sure that the area outside is safe from any intruders, I will call back to the station to report on our status, and on my next-"

"Callaway…I need to speak to with you in the kitchen right now…Alone."

Before he could speak up, Mark watched his superior head off towards the direction of Ella's parents' kitchen with a stern look on his face. The sight of how Brighton looked made him very curious about what it was that he wished to speak to him about in private.

He turned his focus in the direction of his ex-girlfriend, and noticed her face possessing the same expression that swept across his own from Brighton being stern and short with his request of him.

"Um…" Ella asked," is he always stone cold with you or is it because of the situation at the moment that has him on edge?"

"He is just having one of those days, Ella. We all have them. I am sure it is nothing to worry about. I will be back in a few short moments, and then I will get us on the road to my place."

"I hope you are not heading into your own firing, Mark."

_I hope so too, Ella. The idea of me losing my job, and my one chance to rekindle the passion between the two of us is a thought that I don't want to think of right now._

Ella's suggestion of what he could be heading into made him more nervous than he already was. He didn't want to think on something that would keep them apart instead of bringing them together.

Pushing her remark to the back of his mind, Mark pulled his eyes away from Ella, and walked away from her. He did his best to remain relaxed despite the emotions that were ravaging his body. Mark moved around a corner, and walked across the opened doorway of the kitchen to find Brighton leaning against his back against the stove with his arms over his chest, and his head bowed.

Could Ella have been right? Was he walked into his own job determination? Her mere suggestion added fuel to the fire that his own doubt had created in just a short span of a few seconds.

"So," Mark asked, being the first to break the silence, "what did you want to talk to me about, boss?"

Mark chose to speak to his current superior in a way that wouldn't be too serious, but not too light hearted either. He wanted his boss to be calm and not so hung up on appearing to be the rock of the police force in Lexington that he had been for the last five years.

His eyes watched him lift his head up, and focused a saddened look that was on his face in his direction from where he was located.

"Mark," Brighton replied, "I have a question for you." His strong, southern voice shook slightly with the nervousness and concern that matched the emotions ravaging Mark's mind. "There is something that I have to know."

"What do you want to know, boss?"

"How safe is the area that you are taking Mike's daughter to?"

Mark suddenly realized that reason behind Brighton's stern appearance, and the facial expression he had shown him during his time in the kitchen with him. Brighton didn't want anything to happen to her since he knew her father. It was reasonable since he would be hesitant to let her out of his sight after her parents' murder.

"I live sixteen miles outside of the city in the countryside, Brighton." Mark lowered his voice to be softer and soothing for his ears to bring calm back into his mind from the sensation that was ravaging him. "Also, my cabin is perched on top of a hill that overlooks the area for miles. It makes it very hard for anyone to sneak up to the house without me seeing them from any window of the building."

"Do you have any security cameras or a security system?"

"I have both security cameras, and a top of the line security system. My cameras operate both in the day and at night, continuously displaying any kind of movement outside of my home on my computer."

"What about weapons?"

"I have a variety of weapons that will keep Ella and I safe from harm at anyone's hands."

"What about-"

Mark walked up, and placed one of his hands on Brighton's shoulder. He gently squeezed the ball of his shoulder blade in a comforting grip.

"Ella is safe with me, boss. I won't allow anything to happen to her."

He spoke from his heart, wanting his superior to know that he would not let anyone or anything harm Ella.

Mark found him receiving his approval with a simple nod before he headed out of the kitchen in silence. He knew him to be a man of a few words, and didn't push it with him.

Walking out of the kitchen, Mark headed over to where Ella stood near the closed entrance to her home with her hands nestled at her sides. He brought himself to a stop next to her curvaceous body before he placed one of his hands against the small of her back once more while his other hand motioned to the front door of her home.

"Let's get out of here, Ella." Mark kept his voice soft even though his seriousness lingered within the tone. He wanted to get it to her that he needed to get them out of there at that very moment before anything else happened. "Now is the time to get going before anything else goes wrong."

"What happened?" Ella asked, curious to know about what happened between Brighton and himself in the kitchen. "Did you get fired?"

"Let's just say that Brighton was wanting to make sure that I had the right…qualifications for the job as your protector."

He dropped it there with her; not wishing to bring up that his superior was concerned about her taking off with him to his home outside the city limits of Lexington. Mark's hand applied a little more pressure to her back as he guided her to the piece of wood that separated them from the world outside of the house they stood in.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

Watching him opening up the door, Ella found herself being blinding by an overwhelming amount of flashes coming at her from all directions outside of her parents' front door. She tightly closed her eyes, and brought up a hand in order to prevent the flashes from causing any further damages to her eyesight.

"Miss Adams!" voices shouted out at her from all directions. "Miss Adams, a word please!"

_What in the hell?! I know that I haven't been here that long for there to be this many reporters…I guess the saying is right that word does travel fast. _

She wished that gossip didn't spread so quickly about her mom and dad's death. She needed time to get over losing in such a violent way, not spending it on the public wanting to know about their murder in all of its gory glory.

Her body leaned against Mark's tall frame for support and protection from the hungry news and gossip hounds. She found acceptance there from one of his strong arms wrapping around her waist, and pulling her against him, tightly. She tiled her head, slightly, and managed to open her eyes to find his face looking at the people with a cold expression despite his attempt to keep his frustration with the group under the surface.

"Miss Adams has suffered a tremendous loss by her parents being brutally murdered, and having their lives ended shortly." Mark spoke to the groups of people that were out on the lawn with him teetering on revealing his emotions to them in his deep voice. He held her a little tighter to support not only herself but also him to keep from letting too much of himself get into the moment with them. "She will be staying with one of our top agents until the person who did this is captured, and brought to justice in a court of law."

_Let's not brag about our setup, Mark. I was never fond of your boasting back when we were dating one another._

She fought the urge to roll her eyes at what he was saying to the reporters and general public that had the place surrounded. Ella found her memories of him claiming bragging rights about anything to bring back memories about why she detested them to be plaguing her a bit before her ears registered his deep voice speaking up once more.

"She will make a statement to the general public at a later date. As of right now, I am going to be escorting Miss Adams to where it has been arranged for her to remain under the watchful eye of the police to keep her safe and protected."

Another flash from a nearby camera made her flinch from the rush of light so close to her eyes. She tightly closed her eyes, and buried her face against his body without really thinking about it, acting on instinct. It was only after she discovered his arm to be sliding around her body a little more when she noticed him to be moving forward, taking herself with him, in an urgent attempt to get out of there.

"Try to keep up the best that you can, Ella." Mark whispered to her in a tone that only she would hear, preventing any of the people that were near them from listening in on their conversation. His body moved down the front stairs with hers, and begun to work them through the crowds of people as he continued to speak to her. "I am going to get us to the car and out of here as fast as I can."

Ella could only nod her head up and down to him with it still being near his frame to shield her eyes from the intense flashes from the cameras around her. Her hands clung to his shirt to give herself some balance and support among all the people who had him and her surrounded.

Her simple act of her hands grabbing onto the fabric of his shirt caused her arousal to slowly build upon the warmth of his body seeping through the light fabric, and making contact with the palms of her hands that were pressed against him in the way that they were in. The heat moved to the core of her being, and caused her arousal to slowly wake up a little more than it had been, spreading to her womb, and make her need for him more apparent and unavoidable.

_How is it possible for me to feel an attraction this strong for him by just touching his shirt? I am not even touching him in a sensual manner, and the same can be said about how his arm is draped around my body with his hand on one of my sides. If we are not being sensual to one another in a way that would be reason for this feeling…Why am I gradually being turned on?_

The knowledge of her being aroused in a way where she was not in a sexual situation with Mark alarmed and confused her at the same time. She tried to understand her conflicting emotions to fully comprehend what was going on at the moment while her body struggled to get through the crowds with Aidan leading the way for her to follow.

"Miss Adams, I just need a word!"

The screaming of a nearby reporter made her snap her eyes in the direction of where the woman stood. She found her desperate attempt to get a few minutes with here to be classlessness and thoughtless. The attempt to get her to speak caused her to break her silence.

Bringing herself to stop on the sidewalk with Mark beside her, her eyes fixated themselves onto the desperate reporter, displaying the intense sadness, confusion and frustration that she was under while her voice spoke to her in a similar fashion.

"Can't you take a fucking hint?!" Ella asked, firmly. Her voice trembled on its way out of her delicate lips. "I have just lost the two people in this whole world that gave me life, and all you want to do is harass their only child in a desperate attempt to get your fifteen minutes of god damn fame in, and cash in on the broken heart of a daughter who now has no one in her life but herself to depend upon!"

"It was not my intention to upset you, Miss Adams."

"That is bullshit and you know it is. You wanted to cause me some kid of pain and suffering in order to get a reaction out of me, and be the one to report about it as it happens."

Her tears were uncontrollable, and she couldn't contain them from pouring out into the open for all of the hungry reporters, curious public, and her former lover to gaze upon and capture. Ella's bottom lip started to shiver while her tears begun to trail down her cheeks without mercy. She pulled in a sharp breath, and released it with her voice become a little more shakier than it had been beforehand.

"You don't care for the feelings of those who are hurting from their losses! All you care about is finding a way to make money off of their sadness and misery while at the same time making you appear to be a good reporter when you are nothing but a gossip hound."

"Miss Adams-"

"Before you try to say something in an attempt to validate your reason, let me finish. It is women like you that gives me a bad name. All you want is money, and don't care about how to go about getting it. Have seen enough your kind, and there is something that I want to tell you."

"What might that be?"

"If you continue to harass me any further…I will personally ram your pad and pen up your ass so far that you can't even think straight for days." Ella's voice took on a more dark, sinister sound to get her point across. "I may look like a weakling at the moment…but I assure you that I am just as strong as one of the country boys that you could never get into bed with."

Her eyes caught a look of shock and embarrassment washing across the face of the young woman that tried to get a rise out of her. A faint smirk danced across her facial expression as she watched the woman struggle for the right words that would put her in the right, and show her up.

"How…How dare you make that accusation about me?!" The woman shouted back at her, not realizing exactly how many people were watching, as well as recording, what she was doing to the sole surviving member of a family that had been murdered. "That is not true at all, and I don't appreciate you spreading lies about me."'

"Oh…I am sorry. Did I hurt a nerve my dear?"

"No…"

"I believe I have. Perhaps you are getting upset because you know it is the truth."

"Well…At least _my _parents know better than to allow some nutcase inside of their home, and make it much easier for them to take their lives. However…I guess your parents were not as smart as someone would give them credit for being."

Ella's face started to soften from the momentary confidence she had been experiencing, and started to reveal the severe level of sadness mixing with an unbridled sensation that caused her to be hurting on the inside. Tears begun to flow from her eyes more openly, and with no mercy.

A soft sound that resembled a cry escaped from her mouth due to what the woman's remark about her parents did to her. Words were not coming out of her mouth like she wanted them to. The way that the reporter had been vicious to her in her attack was nothing like her own she had made against her to try and persuade her to leave her alone.

Ella struggled to get any words out of her mouth. She found the flashes that blinded her vision to be starting once more to capture her misery on film in a desperate attempt to make money off of it. She tried to move but found her muscles in her legs to not be responding. Her head bowed, and moved to rest in the palms of her hands to hide her tears and the soft sounds of her cries.

_Mark…Where are you? Please get me out of here and away from these people before they take anymore pictures or videos than they already need in order to spread around the city that I am the daughter of the man and woman who are lying dead in the Lexington Morgue._

She didn't dare to lift her head up to look for Mark's presence for fear of exposing the already intense sadness that plagued h entire being, and give something for the reporters and the public to feed on.

In a few short moments following her breakdown in front of the very woman who made the low blow on her, Ella discovered her to be swept off of the bottoms of her feet, and being lifted into the air with a strong arm cradling the backs of her knees and the middle of her back. She slowly lowered her hands, and looked up to find Mark's face possessing a really pissed off expression as his eyes were narrowed in on the reporter that had made her cry.

"Miss," Mark said, "I am not going to allow you to further harass this woman who has already lost so much for another moment." His voice escaped from his mouth in almost a growl due to the high level of anger that burned within him, wanting to lash out at her.

Ella gazed upon his face in awe of what he was doing for her. She never expected him to be standing up for her like he was at the moment. He truly surprised her, and made her realize that despite her better judgment…he still cared for her.

Her ears caught the light sound of the woman chuckling a bit under her breath before she glanced out of the corner of her eye to see the reporter smirking defiantly at Mark, egging him on, before she turned her eyes on his face to watch his next course of action with his statements.

"It is not my fault that she can't walk the talk." The female reporter said. She kept the smirk on her face with a slight chuckle to her voice. "She is the one that is truly a pathetic little-"

"You finish that sentence…and I will see to it that the only paper you will ever sign again will be the one that you have to sign on before you turn your belongings you have on hand in before being escorted to be changed into the nice orange uniforms the police station has on hand for 'special' arrivals."

Ella remained in awe of the lengths that Mark went to in order to make it crystal clear to the woman that he would not tolerate her treatment to her for another moment. She couldn't believe that someone who had been out of her life for so long would go to the lengths to get her out of a bad situation. The knowledge overwhelmed her emotions and sensations.

She buried her face into shirt, and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, tightly. Tears started to flow more freely from her face due to her emotions being uncontrollable at the moment. Her mouth muffled cries against the soft fabric of his shirt that concealed his upper body from her face making contact with his bare skin. Ella's curvaceous frame shuddered with each soft cry she released from her mouth, and made contact with his chest.

A new sensation started to make itself known to her in the form of Mark's head leaning down to hers, and lowering his mouth beside one of her ears.

"Don't worry, Ella." Mark whispered. He kept his voice soft to where none of the reporters and public that were near them could hear what he was saying but herself and him. "I am getting the two of us out of here, and to where my cabin is outside of town."

Slowly, Ella lifted her head up a little bit from his shirt with tears streaming down both sides of her face. She looked upon with a look of despair that had a sense of contentment starting to drift to the surface due to him taking it upon himself to get her out of there. Her mouth drew in a small breath of air through the opening, and freed her vocal chords that had limited her from saying anything in response to the reporter that had hurt her in such a profoundly harsh way.

"T-Thank you, Mark." Ella said. She spoke in a soft, trembling voice among the faint sounds of her cries dying away in it at the same time. "I am sorry…I wish that I could have stood up to that…that…"

"Don't even think about that stupid bitch, Ella. Right now…I want you to lie your head back down on my body, and let me carry you to my car without someone else using this as a chance to get a shot at you while you are not at your best."

She understood what he was getting at, and knew that he was right. She was not in any way, shape, or form at her top condition in order to deal with the cold and cruel behavior that the no doubt many of the reporters possessed and a similar nature that was beneath the curious facades of the general public that had surrounded the outside of her home.

Nodding her head, Ella eased her face against the soft fabric of his shirt, and closed her eyes. Her nose pulled in a small breath of air with it against his shirt so closely, and discovered him to be wearing a very good smelling cologne that she had not noticed before when they were upstairs in the privacy of her own room.

_I believe that he didn't just rush over her right away when he got the call to get me from this place, and to his home to keep me safe. The smell of the body spray he used on him tells me that he wanted to make sure that he looked, as well as smelled, when he came to me…He is still the same person that had my heart then…_

She couldn't help but have a faint smile on her face from finding him to not have changed in the last two years that they had been apart from one another, and that he was still the same good 'ol country boy that she loved as both a friend and a boyfriend. There was no doubt that he was slowly starting to win her trust, but her heart was a whole other ballgame. He had hurt her before, and didn't want to get treated badly for a second time.

Her arms relaxed a little more around the back of his neck once she registered him moving among the people that were shouting out for him to let them speak to her and a barrage of cameras flashing at the both of them in a desperate attempt to capture something on film so that they could use it. Ella turned her head to where one of her cheeks pressed against his shirt, and closed her eyes. The last of her tears escaped from her eyes the moment that she had blinked them shut.

Her ears listened to the sounds that surrounded them, and discovered the noises from the crowd that had been around them to be dying off with only now the sound echoing to her ears being that of his shoes thudding against the pavement of the road in front of her parents' home. She lifted her head up, and noticed how the reporters and public were being held back by a few officers that were wanting them get out of there before another scene broke out. Her eyes moved over to his car, and focused on the passenger side door of the vehicle that she would be riding in.

Ella slipped her arms away from the back of his neck, and let him ease her down to the ground in front of the door. She waited for him to open up the door before she eased herself inside. Her eyes watched him shut it back before she reached up, and wiped any other tears that might be lingering around to fall down the soft fair skin of her cheeks. The soft sound of his door opening caught her attention, and she directed it in the direction to his side.

"Now," Mark said, climbing inside the vehicle and closing the door behind him, "let's get out of this god forsaken city, and head to the boonies to get some peace and quiet."

Her faint smile she had before started to expose itself a little more from capturing the response that Mark gave to her about getting the two of them out of there, and away from all of the people that just wanted to hound them both for answers as to what happened behind the door of her family's home.

Ella was grateful that he still had the same sense of humor that he had when he was courting her before they became an exclusive item with one another sometime before he broke up with her to leave for Los Angeles for his job. It gave her a sense of relief and calmed her stress down until it seemed to just melt away.

Nodding her head to him a bit, Ella watched him turn his focus back on the front window shield of the vehicle in an attempt to keep from appearing anything less than professional around her even though he had not had good luck with doing that. She eased her eyes to her own window, and looked through the tinted glass at the surroundings once more, knowing that it would be a long time before she would be seeing the houses again.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter Six_

Driving among the busy traffic, Mark maintained his focus on the front window shield. He kept a firm grip on the leather steering wheel as a precautionary measure in case one of the vehicles in the other lane tried to cut in front of him. His eyes glanced over to the passenger side, and gazed upon Ella's body relaxing against the smooth, leather seat with an expression of her appearing to be off in her own world at the moment.

He didn't wish to bother her with questions, and bring her out of the place she was at in her mind. Ella looked so peaceful, and didn't show any sign of her previous emotions that had caused her to break down crying in front of all of those reporters, photographers, and neighbors.

_I don't know how she does it…I really don't know how she manages to be so strong in the face of everything that is going on at the moment around her. _

Mark couldn't understand how her strength was so powerful that it kept her from breaking down, and shattering into a million pieces. If he had lost his parents in such a brutal and violent way, he was certain that he would have be restrained to keep from lashing out at any one that walked by him for believing that they were the one who murdered his loved ones.

_What I do know is that I am not going to rest until I capture the person who did this to her mom and dad, and watch the look on their face as the judge throws the book at them._

He was certain about the plan that was set before him in the deepest areas of his mind. Mark would do all he could to catch up to the individual that committed this heinous murder, and make sure that they paid the ultimate price.

Replacing his complete focus on the stretch of highway that would take them out of Lexington, his eyes caught sight of a stoplight in the process of changing from yellow to red. He moved his right foot off of the accelerator and onto the brake, and pressed down on it, firm but gently. Mark used this as an excuse to speak up, and break the silence between the two of them inside of his vehicle.

"How are you holding up, Ella?" Mark asked, softly. He made sure to keep his deep, southern voice at a tone that wouldn't bring her out of her mind in total surprise since she seemed to be lost within the place she had went to escape what was going on with her life at the moment.

His eyes captured her gaze to be fluttering a bit, and bringing herself back to reality. He knew that his voice snapped herself out of the safety of her own mind, and to the world that was around her. Keeping his eyes on her, Mark watched her turn her head towards him, and put on a brave smile for him to show that she was not weak like everyone automatically assumed about her.

"I…" Ella replied. Her voice escaped from the confines of her mouth in a shaky sound while she tried to maintain a brave persona for him. "I am doing okay, Mark."

_Don't you lie to me, Ella Adams. I can see as clear as day that you are only putting on the façade of being strong to keep from appearing weak. I know you too damn well. You showed that when you tried to be strong in the face of that arrogant reporter that ended up making you reveal how you truly felt._

Mark made a quick glance at the stoplight, and found it to still be red. He turned his piercing stare in her direction, and locked them in on her own eyes that were looking towards him.

"Ella…You don't have to put a front up with me in order to keep yourself from showing too much of your emotions to remain safe."

"I am not-"

"You have always been horrible at lying to anyone, Ella."

"I am not lying!'

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not."

"Very well…Then look me right in the eye, and tell me that you are doing okay if you truly mean it."

He decided to use a tactic that not only her father used on her when he had brought her home late a few times on their dates, but also on one that he had used on suspects brought in for questioning. His career had been prosperous since he started to use the method that he picked up from Ella's father, and used it to the fullest extent.

Holding his stare on her with no sign of him wavering from it, Mark caught her resolve starting to melt away, and reveal her true emotions to be that of sadness and despair. He watched her eyes fill up with tears before she turned her eyes from him.

"God damn you, Mark." Ella whispered. Her voice possessed a slight whimpering sound due to her feelings getting the upper hand, and revealing themselves to Mark. "I was perfectly fine, and then you had to go and…and…"

Mark reached over towards her, and eased one of her hands into his. He took a moment to catch the light changing from red to green out of the corner of his eyes. Moving his foot off the brake, Mark drove down the road while one of his hands clung to hers. He slipped his fingers between hers as a soft, regretful sigh left his mouth at the same time his gaze was focused on the front window shield.

"I am sorry, Ella." Mark lowered his deep voice to where it would sound like a whisper that dripped with a need for her to forgive him for the stupid action he chose to do. "I didn't wish to make you cry like this. I just-"

"You should have known that I was not wanting to reveal how I am feeling at the moment, Mark. My fucking parents are dead, I am being threatened by someone that I don't even know, and now…I am being taken away from the only neighborhood that I have called home ever since I was a little girl."

"Ella-"

"You out of anybody should know better than to do this to someone that is under your protection at the moment."

Suddenly, it hit him as if he had been slammed in a ring at a wrestling event. He did know better than to do what he did to people that are placed under his protection. However, Mark hadn't been thinking of Ella as someone just simply under his protection. His mind had only been thinking about her as his former girlfriend, and treating her like he did when he was with her when she would try to keep something from him. He had broken his own protocol with her, and caused Ella's emotions to go berserk inside of her body because of his course of action.

"I…" His voice escaped from his mouth in a shakier sound than he wanted it to come across as being. "I did know better than to do what I did with you, Ella."

"Then why in the hell did you do it, Mark?! Why did you do something that you knew very well would upset me, and make me break down in tears when it is not something condoned by the police code that you took in order to become the detective that you are today?!"

Noticing another stoplight turning red, Mark eased the car to a complete stop. He released another sigh from his mouth before his eyes focused in on where she was nestled beside him in the passenger side seat with a look of sincere sadness growing there within his piercing gaze along with regret forming within his once strong, confident, southern voice.

"I wasn't viewing you as someone for me to protect, Ella."

"What do you-"

"I was thinking of you more as my ex-girlfriend, and how I would do these tactics with you to get the truth out that you were trying to conceal from me on our many dates. My first thought wasn't on you being someone to protect…but someone that I want to be with."

"Mark…"

Overwhelmed by his own needs to win back her affection and love, Mark eased his hand out of hers, and placed it onto the steering wheel. He used his other arm to prop up on the edge of his opened window, and support his head to lean to the side. His regret and sadness started to consume his entire being from how she was obviously upset at the wrong choice he had made in order to see what she was hiding from the surface.

"I am sorry, Ella…I should have not done what I did, and I hope you can forgive me for the stupid thing I have done. I will do my best to keep from doing that again while you are in my custody until we find the person who killed your parents, and who wants to come after you now."

Mark silently cursed at himself for the irrational way he had went about in getting the answer out of Ella. He never wanted to be the one to make her cry. It was always his intention to take care of her, protect her, to love her, and to make anyone who did make her cry to pay for it, heavily. However, how could he make the person pay for making her cry at the moment when he was the one that caused it? He believed there was no way that she would forgive him for what he had done, and that his possible chance to rekindle the love they had for one another was gone.

Slowly, Mark begun to sense a warmth spreading across his hand that was on the steering wheel. He lowered his eyes from the stoplight, and found one of Ella's hands to be over the back of his palm that faced her. His eyes slowly moved down her arm, and stopped when they made contact with the tears in her eyes to be gone, and only a sincere expression of acceptance to be pouring out of them for him.

"I forgive you, Mark." Ella said. Her voice sounded tremendously different from the way it had sounded a moment earlier when she had begun to broke down crying from how he had used the tactic her father used to get through to her. "I understand that right now things are a little bit strained since we used to be a couple and haven't seen each other in the last two years. It is especially difficult since we are in a situation where you are to watch over me, and I need to follow your advice in order for both of us to come out of this thing alive, and to catch the person who is trying to come after you and I to finish the job."

Mark had to give Ella credit. She was very smart, and intelligent for her age. Most girls around her age were only concerned about three things: Money, Shopping, and Men, or at least the women that he had been around in Los Angeles, California. Ella was different. She had the ability to comprehend things much quicker, and see through people's alternative motives. This probably would explain how she could tell what he was wanting to do with her in the upstairs bedroom in her parents' house the moment that he pulled her into a hug with himself.

Keeping his eyes on her, Mark eased himself to sit up a little more in his seat, and placed the hand that had been supporting his head onto the steering wheel. His hand that was underneath hers, flipped over, slowly, and moved her hand within his grasp. He eased his fingers around her hand, and gave it a firm squeeze. Mark swallowed a blockage that had grown in his vocal chords from the moment of surprise at having received an apology from Ella instead of her cursing at him still before he could speak up.

"I appreciate you for doing that, Ella." Mark discovered his voice to be slowly recovering from the shaky tone he had been using with her, and starting to sound more like the one he had used with her when he saw her for the first time in two years outside of her parents' home. "I am grateful that you wish to forgive me for acting like a complete jerk with you a moment ago with my bad choice of wanting to use my tactic to get through to you."

"I believe the better term that you should have used would be 'asshole'."

"Let's not ruin the moment, Ella."

"I didn't know we were having a moment, Mark."

"Yeah…Right…"

A soft chuckle escaped from Mark's mouth as his eyes focused once more on the streetlight that kept them waiting from going any further down the hallway. His eyes held focus on it for a few moments before he caught the light changing to green. He placed his foot from the brake onto the accelerator pedal once more, and pressed down on it, gently. Once he had them going into motion down the stretch of highway, Mark kept his focus on the front window shield while at the same time he kept the conversation going between Ella and himself.

"Well…We really don't have a long time left on this stretch of road."

"What do you mean?"

"I will have to take the exit coming up for us to get us to my home outside of Lexington."

"So…you were not joking earlier then, right?"

"About what?"

"About us going to the boonies. I thought you were joking about that, and you really lived-"

"In Lexington's city limit in some sort of upscale apartment complex?"

"Well…Yeah."

"Ella, I wanted to come back here to keep track of the murderer I am after, but I didn't want to take on the job as being the lead detective of the police force in Lexington unless I was able to find me a place outside of this city's noisy limits. I wanted to be away from it all…and somewhere that I could think without hearing honks from cars, people shooting off at the mouth, or shooting at each other with guns outside the walls of my home."

"Sounds like Los Angeles got to you, Mark."

"You have no idea on how right you are, Ella."

Another chuckle escaped before he could stop it. He found Ella already bringing himself, the real side, out when he had locked it away for so long. Mark was amazed at how Ella could bring the person who he truly was to the surface without much trouble, and do it in a way that would make it look effortless and with grace.

His eyes caught sight of an exit to the right that was coming up on the other side of two lanes. He retrieved his hand from hers, and placed it back onto the wheel, firmly.

"Did I-"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Ella. I just need to have both hands on the steering wheel to do what I have to do next."

"What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering her with words, Mark gave a sharp turn of the wheel to the right, cutting across the two lanes, and pulling off of the highway onto the exit that he had been aiming for. He waited until they had moved off the exit onto a two lane road with everyone traveling at a decent speed before his eyes looked in her direction. The shocked expression of what he had done was etched across her face even though she was trying to not show it. The sight caused a smirk to form on his face a bit as he stifled a chuckle.

"You all right, Ella?" He tried to keep his chuckle out of his voice, but found a small amount escaping into it. His eyes caught her to be shooting him a glare out of the corners of them that spoke volumes for how she felt.

"Don't do that without telling me to give me time to get myself ready!" Ella shouted, slapping him on the arm in the process. Her voice was a mixture of shock and frustration with him. "You nearly scared the life out of me!

"I am sorry if I scared you, Ella. I didn't see any other way to get us off the exit with us being two lanes away from it. I had to do what I did."

"You could have told me though."

"I didn't have time to tell you. Now…Just relax, and sit back. We will be at my home soon enough."

Mark took the time to watch her roll her eyes at him before she closed her eyes and turning her head to the side. A pleasant smile formed on his face from seeing how she looked to him at the moment. His eyes moved away from her, and focused back onto the long stretch of road in front of him.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter Seven_

Slowly opening her eyes, Ella found herself to be looking up at a clear blue sky with not a cloud in sight. She gazed at the sight in confusion and curiosity.

_Wait…How did I get out here? The last thing I remember is being in the car with Mark heading down the road that he pulled us onto from the highway._

Ella eased herself to sit up, and noticed the area to be an open field that she played in as a child with her friend when she was little, and no sign of Mark's vehicle. One of her hands reached up, and scratched the back of her head as the increasing confusion started to wreck further havoc on her mind.

_How…How is this even possible? Where is Mark at? I don't understand how-_

Her rational side disrupted the thoughts she was having by slipping a thought into her mind among the questions: This was a dream. This was just a dream, and that she was still asleep in Mark's car in the passenger side seat of his expense car.

Believing that this was just a dream that she was having at the moment, she lowered her hand down from the top of her head, and let it drop down to her side where it had bee. Her skin on the back of her palm noticed a light, soft fabric brushing against it, alerting her that something else other than her workout clothes were on her body. She lowered her eyes down, and discovered herself to be wearing a light pink, short cap sleeved dress that stopped past her knee caps and a matching pair of slippers on her feet, the very same outfit she wore the last time she went out with Mark before he had broken up with her outside of her friends' home.

_Okay…I believe that I am going to have to use a lyric from one of Beyoncé's songs right now…Is this supposed to be a sweet dream…or a beautiful nightmare?_

Forcing herself to pull her eyes away from the sight of her clothes, Ella glanced around the opened area she was in for any sign of someone else being out there. She started in a direction as she called out to anyone that could hear her.

"Hello?!" Ella asked, screaming out in her southern voice that was full of the uncertainty that had swept up her emotions in it. "Is anyone out here?"

"Come on, Mark!"

Ella's desire shifted upon her ears catching the sound of a child's voice. She moved her eyes in the direction of the tree line that surrounded the edges of the open field, and caught sight of a little girl with long, raven black hair hanging down to the small of her back of the sleeveless white sundress she had on, and her dark brown eyes twinkling in the bright sunlight.

_What a cute little girl. I wonder why-_

The momentary admiration of the little girl turned from that into that of curiosity. The child's appearance seemed very familiar to her, but she couldn't place the identity of her right away.

_Wait a minute here…She looks so familiar to me. I know her from somewhere, but…I can't remember-_

"Wait for me, Ella!"

The sound of a little boy shouting out the name of the girl brought the realization of who she was crashing down around her, as well as a tidal wave of shock from the discovery of the child to be herself at a younger age.

Snapping herself out of the gawking stare that had fell over her eyes, Ella caught sight of a young Mark rushing out of the trees to where her younger self stood in a white short-sleeved top under a bright yellow, zip up vest with a pair of denim jeans on his small frame that went all the way down to the tops of his white sneakers. Her eyes noticed how the sunlight's rays seemed to be twinkling in the spiky strands of his hair that was pointed up all over the top of his head.

_Yep…That is __definitely __ Mark when he was younger. No one else in our childhood had that silly haircut before until he started to wear it. _

A soft chuckle escaped from her mouth at the sight of her ex-boyfriend's hairstyle that he had when they were younger. Her laughter could always come out so easily when she was little after she met him on their first day, and especially after he had gotten that haircut.

Ella relaxed herself a little more from where she was before she started to move across the field in the direction of where the two children were standing with each other.

_I wonder what I should say to them. I mean…I have no idea about what to say or do around a younger version of myself and a younger version of Mark. I guess I should just get down to their level, and talk to them like either a parent or another child would in order to get the answers to the questions that I have._

Her eyes were locked on the young children, talking to one another in voice levels that she could make out due to the distance between them, as she proceeded to work on erasing the space. The sight of them playing with one another warmed her heart, and reminded her of the days when she would play with Mark for hours, and not even think about anything else other than spending time with each other for hours on end.

Ella wished that childhood lasted longer in the day and age that she currently lived in. Young girls often become so grown up at an early age due to the media, and the same could be said about girls. They need to enjoy childhood instead of being rushed into growing up so fast, and learning about things that they don't need to be knowing until they reach their teenage years.

Once she had gotten a few feet from the little ones, her ears picked up on the sound of thunder starting to roll overhead in the heavens. Her hair danced in the wind a bit more wildly as it started it pick up. Ella lifted her eyes to the sky, and discovered the once clear, blue sky to being covered in a growing number of dark, ominous clouds.

_Oh no…This is not looking good. Those clouds are making it quite clear to me about what is fixing to happen. I better get the kids somewhere safe, and nowhere near this bad weather that could do something to them._

Ella lowered her eyes from the sky, and focused them in the direction of where the two small versions of Mark and herself had been playing with one another. Her gaze noticed the children to be running back towards the very woods they had come from with smiles on their faces.

"Wait!" She cried out with her voice dripping with unbridled fear that over swept her entire being the moment she discovered the little ones to be running away from her with a storm looming overhead. "It is not safe out here!"

Her desire to keep the children out of the approaching storm fueled her body to race towards the tall trees. She ducked under a couple of low branches at the entrance, and hurried down a beaten path with desperation fueling each step that she took.

_What in the hell are you doing, Ella?! _ Her conscience asked her, screaming its dislike and disdain about her running after the little boy and little girl with bad weather on the horizon. _Are you insane?!_

_ About allowing Mark to get close enough to me at my parents' house to where I was on the edge of vocalizing my wish for him to fuck me? Yes. _Ella replied to the question that her rational side poised to her during the hectic situation she was in. _About trying to catch up to a younger version of Mark and me in order to get them out of the path of the storm that is fixing to hit the area? No._

_ You are willing to put yourself on the line for two children that you believe to be young versions of your ex and yourself?_

_ It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the answer._

_ Apparently, we need a brain surgeon here. Ella, you have completely went off your rocker!_

_ I have done no such thing!_

_ If you are willing to risk yourself for two individuals that you don't even know, and put yourself on the line-_

_ Now, you need to shut the hell up right now! I am not going to have you trying to convince me that I need to leave these kids out here in a bad storm, and focus on only saving myself._

_ Ella-_

_ Don't Ella me nothing! I am not the selfish type of person that you wish for me to become! I will never focus on me, myself, and I. I will always focus my attention on those who need my help first before I even think to focus on my own needs._

_ Ella-_

_ Ella nothing! I want you to leave me be, and to not interrupt me again!_

Reaching a fork in the path, Ella brought herself to a screeching halt. The increased sound of the thunder rolling across the heavens, and the quickening pace of wind around her body made her nerves to remain on edge. Her eyes darted around the area, looking for evidence of where the boy and girl had ran off to.

_Okay…If I were a little girl running around this place with my best friend who happened to be a guy, where would I go?_

She surveyed the two paths that she was on at the moment, letting her mind linger on each one that was set before herself. Her eyes found the path on the left to appear untouched by any type of movement both past and present.

"Come on, slow poke!"

The sound of her own voice in a child's tone echoed to her ears from the path on her right, causing her to snap her head in the direction that she heard the noise come from. Ella darted her gaze down, and caught sight of some footprints embedded into the moist earth floor of the woods.

_Thank goodness I was a loud little girl growing up!_

A brief moment of relief washed over her body from catching the sound of her younger self calling out to her. Ella needed to get to where they were to keep them safe from the bad weather that was on the horizon.

She rushed down the path to the right with all of the energy she had left in her body. Ella used her arms to pump her movements down the beaten path. The faint sounds of her shoes slapping against the earth echoed to her ears while the thunder became even louder. Her eyes darted around the area, searching for the children.

"Come on, slow poke! You are going to miss out on all the fun!"

The sound of the little girl's voice being joined by the little boy's in a much louder volume added more to the fire that was already burning deep inside of her soul.

She increased the pace even more when she discovered the children to be very close now, and that they were waiting for her to get to where they were. Moving around a corner, her body emerged from the woods. The sight of the trees to not be surrounding her anymore took her by surprise, and off of her game for a moment.

"Come on!"

The sound of the children's voices being much louder and closer to her caused her brief, overwhelming sensation of surprise and shock to disappear as quickly as it had come. She tore her eyes away from her immediate surroundings, and focused them to where the children were. A look of unadulterated horror washed across her face from finding the children to be standing in front of her family home with blood dripping from the windows.

_This is not right…That is my mom and dad's home, but…there is something really bad about it. That is not a place for children, or even for me, to be._

Ella couldn't let the children go inside such a dark and dangerous building. She wouldn't be able to look at herself in the mirror if she let them go inside a place that blood was dripping from the windows, and gave off a vibe that just screamed the existence of a powerful, negative force being inside of it.

Her eyes watched the two innocent, smiling children turn, and run up the stairs of the home with the same look of fear that had fixed itself on her face. With her body frozen in the spot she was in, Ella fought with all of her might to move towards the house to get to the children. She managed to build up enough strength to force her body to move forward from where she was standing, and made a desperate move towards the house. Without warning, her body was brought to an abrupt stop from the sensation of a strong hand wrapping around one of her arms on the upper part, and yanking her backwards. Ella turned her head, and looked up to see Mark as the person who he is now to be standing right in front of her.

"Ella, you can't go in there." Mark said, firmly. His stern and cold expression poured out of his being towards hers through his piercing, dark eyes. "It is not safe for you."

"I can't let them go in there either, Mark!" Ella screamed at him for having stopped her from moving any further towards the house. "You have to let me go in there after the children, and stop them from putting themselves in danger, Mark!"

"I can't do that, Ella."

"You have to let me do it!" She struggled to get herself out of his grasp he had on her only to find him his other hand moving to her other arm to keep her in the place that she was in at the moment. "Let me go, Mark!"

"Ella…"

Ella closed her eyes and shook herself as hard as she could manage to get out of his arm. The back of her head leaned back, and hit the back of something hard. Opening her eyes, she was caught off guard at the sight of her being inside of Mark's vehicle with the sun being out still. Her eyes looked at the surroundings in confusion.

"What the-"

"Are you all right, Ella?"

The sound of Mark's voice made her turn her head, and found him to be knelt down on the outside of the car on his right knee with a concerned look on his face. She took note of his hands being on her arms out of the corner of her eyes while her gaze was mainly focused on where he was.

"I…I think so."

"What happened? You started to scream at me to let you go as soon as I pulled us into the driveway of my home. Were you having a nightmare like you used to have when you were little?"

Ella listened to his question, and let it settle inside of her mind. She did recall telling him of the nightmares she would have the night before when they were younger at school before they would run off to play on the playground with each other. It seemed like the scariest dream she could have when she was little never phased her at all. However, she wasn't little anymore. She was a grown woman, and this type of dream scared the hell out of her.

"Y-yeah…It was just a nightmare is all, Mark."

"You want to tell me more about it, Ella?"

"I really want to get out of this car, and get some fresh air if it is all the same to you."

She watched him immediately move to his feet, and remove his hands away from her arms after she had made her request to him. Ella was a bit surprised at how quick he was willing to do what she asked of him to let her do. Her soft lips pulled in a breath of air as she stepped out of his vehicle, and turned her eyes in the direction of where a tall cabin stood before her eyes.

_This is quite a sight to see. Someone who has lived in Los Angeles for two years wants to live in a cabin as opposed to one of the more expensive homes in the areas? This is quite new for me to see._

Her eyes moved from the home to where he stood to see him moving to the other side of the passenger side door in order to close it when she would move from the opening in the car. She pushed away the feelings of uncertainty, and spoke with a more calm, easy going tone in her voice.

"This is surprising to see."

"What is that, Ella?"

"You wanting to live in a cabin as opposed to being inside of one of the more wealthier homes that I am sure is in the area."

"Like I told you, Ella…I was wanting to get back to where I came from, and leave Los Angeles as far behind as I can. I didn't mind it there, but my mind and heart was here the whole entire time."

"I find that a little hard to believe, Mark." Ella moved to the side, and let him close the passenger side door back as she focused on him from where she was nestled with her back against the car. "You seem to be more of the type of guy that would be more than happy to be back there right now."

"Why do you say that?"

"Mark…Any man in your situation would rather be there than here right now since Los Angeles has a lot of things that would appeal to someone as opposed to being in this country side."

"Name off some."

"Okay…What about the fast cars?"

"I prefer the cars around here. They have more power to them, and I would rather get a car fixed by someone that I trust rather than someone that is going to try to rob me blind."

"True…What about the amount of the money you were getting paid there? I am sure that you were getting paid a pretty penny to work at the Los Angeles Police department."

"I was never really a fan of the money. Even though it helped pay the bills…It couldn't satisfy me, and help me forget about this place."

"I guess my last question is…What about the women out there? I am sure there are really pretty girls out there that caught your eye, and had you really wanting to date them."

Ella kept her eyes on him from where she was the entire time she spoke to him. Maintaining her eyes on him, she noticed his body to be moving slowly over to her own. She took in another breath to swallow down, and push a blockage that had grown in her throat down, and away for her voice to come out. Her body tightened up all over with him moving his body in front of her own with just inches between her them, and his hands on the car on either side of her, boxing her in.

"Even though there were a lot of pretty girls out there that did catch my eye and asked me to fuck them like no one else had…The only woman that I was wanting to see in my bed when I woke up in the morning…was you."

"M-me? Why-"

"I believe you are very smart, Ella, and that you know very well why I said that…just like you know why I have brought you to my home to keep watch over you instead of allowing some rookie officer like Jenkins to be the one to watch over you at some random hotel in Lexington."

He was right. Ella knew exactly why he wanted to be the one to watch over her, as well as keep her from another officer that could easily move in on her in a secluded hotel. He was drawn to her like he was when they had been dating, and the idea of her being alone with another officer other than him was something that he was not going to allow to slip inside of his mind. This was a dangerous game that she was playing with him, and that her heart was on the line of getting healed by his unbridled love that he had for her, or becoming shattered beyond all repair.

Her eyes watched him slowly back up a little bit from her, and motioning her towards the cabin with one of his hands, suggesting for her to move with him towards the two story building that was standing right in front of him. Ella released a soft sigh from her mouth before she started up the paved sidewalk beside him towards the wooden steps of his wrap around porch.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight_

Mark's concern about what kind of nightmare plagued his former girlfriend's mind started to emerge on his strong, chiseled face. He couldn't push the fact that she had a dream that affected her, and didn't want to discuss it with him. Ella always told him the dreams that she had would have when they were younger. Her refusal to tell him her nightmare made his concern heighten even more.

Reaching the bottom step of the porch, Mark moved up them with her beside him on the wide stairs at a slow and steady pace. He moved his eyes over towards her, and found her head to be bowed a bit with a frightened and nervous look on her face.

_The nightmare obviously affected her in more ways than one…I can't stand silent while she is suffering like she is at the moment. To do so would go against the code that I took to become an officer of the law…and my own desires to make her feel happy…safe…and loved while she remains with me for however long that may be. _

Reaching the top step, Mark turned towards where she was nestled beside him with no hesitation, and voiced his concern for her.

"I want to know, Ella." His deep voice bellowed out of his mouth in a whispery sound. He noticed how by him speaking up out of the blue caused her body to stumble a bit forward but not enough to fall. His eyes locked in on her look of shock to be pouring out from her widened eyes while he maintained the firm sound in his southern voice. "Tell me…"

"T-Tell you what?" Ella asked, shockingly. "I am not sure what you-"

"You know what I want you to tell me, Ella."

"I am not-"

"God damn it, Ella!" His need to understand what was wrong with her at the moment took control of his very essence, and brought his frustration with her to the surface. "Quit playing the stupid act that you are putting on at the moment in hopes that I will stop asking you!"

"I am not doing anything, Mark!"

"You are doing exactly what you did earlier in the care with me. However…I am not in the mood to do the stare with you in order to get an answer out of you this time around."

"Is that a threat that I am hearing from, Detective Calloway? I didn't think that officers of the law could make threats to the people that they are supposed to be watching-"

In what seemed to be a blur to him, Mark moved to where he was in front of her body with only inches separating the both of them from pressing against each other. His gaze intensified as he fixated it on her like a hawk watching its prey from high above.

"It is not a threat, but a fact." His voice lowered to a more deadly serious sound in the whisper that he chose to keep. "I will use a more…direct approach to find out what is bothering you if you choose to keep this little game going between the both of us."

He kept his eye son her and only her with no intent of looking elsewhere. The goal, as well as the task at hand, was to find out what it was that troubled her. His intense gaze watched her wall that she had put up earlier with her mock expression of shock starting to crumble before him as she started to bow her head.

"Why are you doing this?" Her voice had a shaky sound to the soft tone she chose to use, allowing her emotions and feelings of distraught and concern to come to the surface. "Why can't you just let it go, and not worry about what is on my mind?"

"Because I can't, Ella."

Lifting up one of his hands, Mark tilted her head up with the help of his index finger on the underside of her chin. He found himself coming face to face with the intense emotions of worry that had poured out onto her face as he spoke to her with a desire to ease her concerns and worries away. "I want to know what it is that plagues your mind so I can help you get rid of it."

"It was only a nightmare-"

"A nightmare that you are refusing to talk about, Ella."

"Does it really matter that I don't want to talk about it?"

"It matters to me."

Mark was not about to give her slip away from his body, and move around a corner towards one of the ends of his porch. Mark moved away from the step, and, slowly, move towards where Ella placed herself on his porch with her hands pressing the palms against the wooden beam of the top railing that ran along the porch as her head hung down once more.

"I…I saw two children in my dream, Mark." Her voice seemed to be a little more shaky as she spoke from the heart. "They were playing in a large open field with each other."

_How is this a nightmare? It sounds like a rather pleasant dream to me so far. Two children in an open field with each other…doesn't seem scary so far._

Mark did his best to keep his confusion about her dream that she was revealing to him deep inside even though his voice seemed to let it come to the surface.

"Well," he said, gently, "it doesn't sound bad so far to me, Ella. If all you saw was two random-"

"The kids…were us when we were little, and the field…was the one that we used to play in for hours on end."

Mark discovered her voice be shaking even more to match the growing trembling sensation that seemed to be taking over her body. Deep down inside, he started to realize that perhaps the reason why she was not wanting to talk about it was that something happened between them in her dream.

Moving beside her curvaceous frame, Mark eased one of his hands against her upper back, and moved his palm in a gentle circle, proceeding to try to ease the overwhelming sensations that were ravaging her body, and making it hard for her to be open with him like she used to be. He pulled in a breath of air, and spoke to her in a more sincere tone in the whisper he used with her.

"What happened to us in your dream, Ella?"

"We…We were playing for a while, and laughing. Then…This dark cloud rolled in, and I saw us running into the woods."

"What happened next, darling?"

"I chased after us with the wish to keep us safe from the storm. After a few moments…I came out of the woods…and…and saw us going inside of a house that had blood coming out of the windows and looked like…like…"

The growing sound of her unbridled sadness coming out of her voice broke his heart, and also alerted him of the intense level of distraught that had kept her quiet before, and prevented her from revealing to him the true reason as to why she didn't wish to speak about her dream to him.

Mark eased her to turn to face him, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body tightly against his physique. One of his hands moved on the back of her head, and the other on the small of her back. The soft sound of her sobbing against the soft fabric of the top he had had on caused his eyes to close, and his arms to hold onto her a little more firmly.

"I am so sorry, Ella." His voice trembled on its way out of his strong lips, matching the growing sound in her own voice. It pained him to see her suffering when he couldn't prevent the nightmare from happening to her. "I wish that I could have done something to chase that horrible dream away from your mind before it could happen to you."

"You didn't do anything to cause it, Mark. You have no reason to apologize."

"I feel like I should be since it is because of you seeing the scene at your family's home, and bringing something so dark and evil into your life that doesn't need to be there at all."

"You can't help it though."

"I can at least try to keep it from happening to you again, Darling." Easing himself back just a little bit from her, Mark removed his hands from her body, and cupped the sides of her face, tilting it up so he could look into her teary gaze. The sight nearly broke his spirit as his own tears had started to come to his eyes as he spoke to her. "There is nothing that will stop me from making the person who did this to your family pay the most severe price. I won't rest until they pay the ultimate price."

"I know that you will do what it takes to bring this person to justice, Mark."

"It doesn't change though that this is the second time that I have made you cry while you have been in my care with me."

"I believe that we are even now though."

"How can we possibly be even when I have made you cry two times?"

Mark tightened slightly from the surprise caress of one of her hands moving across his face, and brushing a single tear that had escaped from one of his eyes away from his gentle skin. He glanced down to her hand for a moment before his eyes moved towards in her direction.

"You are willing to keep yourself fighting to right the wrongs that were done to me, both in my mind and out here in the real world…That alone makes all your efforts that you have made well worth the tears that I have cried."

"Ella…"

His heart started to overflow with emotions from the answer he had received from her. The sight of her eyes looking to him from where she stood with sincerity to match the tone that had grown in her voice. He moved one of the hands from her face, and pressed his palm against the backside of her hand, holding it more firmly against the side of his face that it was on.

"I will not stop until I make the man that has stolen your parents from you pay severely, and your mind is free from the pain and suffering that plagues your dreams."

"I know you will, Mark." Ella's voice escaped in a soft whisper that revealed her beliefs in his ability and her inability to not be able to ignore the feelings growing inside of her from this change in him. "I know you will…"

The way her voice spoke to him caused his arousal to build inside of him. He moved his eyes towards her delicate lips, and started to notice an overwhelming desire to taste them once more, and savor them.

Mark needed to feel her mouth crashing under his with all of his might. There was nothing else that he wanted more in the world at the moment than experiencing a moment of pure bliss with her that very second.

He wetted his lips slightly with the help of his tongue a bit before his face started to move in close to hers. Mark waited until his face was hovering his mouth over hers before he stopped, and watched for her movement.

_I am not going to be the one to start the kiss with her this time around. If she truly wants this to happen, she will be the one to start the kiss with me instead of it being the other way around. She has to want this or it is not worth pursuing.]_

His eyes watched her wavering for a moment, almost trying to talk herself out of the moment they were having with each other from within the depths of her own mind. After a few moments, Mark received her answer to his halt of kissing her with her own mouth moving up, and locking against his in a tender kiss that dripped with the unbridled passion that dwelled deep inside of her body for him. A soft sound of pleasure escaped from his mouth the moment that she had accepted the offer of kissing him first while his hands moved away from her body, and eased them around the backside of her curvaceous body.

_Thank you, Ella. Thank you from the bottom of my heart…_

Mark wanted to take time with her, and not rush her into it with him like he had at her parents' house when they were upstairs in her old bedroom by themselves. There was no reason to rush into so quickly since they had all the time in the world to spend with each other.

He proceed to keep the kiss tender yet passionate with her from where he stood with her body within his strong embrace. His body tightened with surprise and delight from the sensation of her tongue pressing against the entrance to his strong mouth. A faint smirk moved across his face upon discovering her to be moving quickly into the kiss with him. Mark eased his mouth open at her request, and gave her tongue passage inside of his lips. He returned her gestured by sliding his along hers and moving inside of her mouth. His ears picked up on the soft sound of her letting out a moan inside of his mouth as he held onto the kiss with her. Mark begun to harden with an unbridled lust to have her in his bed with him.

_ Calm yourself down, Mark. _His conscience whispered to him the recesses of his mind, trying to persuade him away from what he was wanting to do at the moment. _You have to remember that she is someone that you are to protect. She is your witness, and it is not proper for you to-_

_ Oh would you please shut the hell up?! _Mark snapped at his conscience for having invading his mind, and trying to talk him out of what he was doing with Ella at the moment. _I am not about to stop what I am doing with her since she is not wanting it to stop either. Did you not see her kissing me first and slipping me her tongue inside of my mouth instead of it being the other way around?_

_ Mark, you cannot allow yourself to do this!_

_ Why on earth not?_

_ You are a detective that is supposed to watching your witness…not having sex with her right on the front porch of your cabin home where someone could see the two of you!_

_ No one is around for miles to see me having sex with her right here and now on my porch…but I am not going to be doing that just yet with her. _

_ That's good._

_ Doesn't mean that my bedroom is off limits to her at the moment though. _

_ What?!_

Choosing to ignore the shocked sound from her conscience, Mark trailed his hands around the front of her body, and trailed down her frame to where her tight, round ass was nestled in the pants that she had put on to go running in earlier. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, and hoisted her up off of her feet in just a flash. His body shivered from the feeling of her legs moving around his waist to hold onto him a bit more while her mouth seemed to be going mad with passion and desire, unwilling to stop the kiss with him. Keeping a hold on her ass, Mark walked them right up to his front door, and used one of his hands to give the knob a twist before he moved the two of them inside the safety and privacy of his home.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine_

Ella didn't care anymore about keeping distance between herself and Mark. She didn't want to keep her wall up anymore. She had only one thing on her mind, and that was to experience a moment of sexual bliss with the man that she once referred to as her boyfriend.

With herself locked into a passionate kiss with him, her ears listened to the sound of him kicking the front door of his home closed behind them. She kept her tongue massaging his while her arms were locked around the back of his neck, firmly.

_Oh my god…I have missed this so much! I had no idea how much I have been needing this lately, but I am not about to stop something as wonderful and breathtaking as what I am experiencing at the moment._

Her mind was made up. She would give into the sexual urges she had been experiencing since their brief intimate moment at her parents' house in the privacy of her old bedroom away from the eyes of the officers that had been in her home. Nothing would deter her from giving into her desires.

Her body tightened up out of surprise of him pressing her against a wall in his home while his body moved between her legs. She released her gasps of pleasure from her mouth once her body found his mouth to be sliding away from hers, and trailing down to a side of her neck. Ella took a moment to open her eyes to glance at his large, open layout of the first floor of his rustic inspired home for a few quick moments.

Ella started to feel a bit confused at what she discovered. Mark had spent two years in Los Angeles where he had the chance to live it up in probably a more modern, lavish style apartment or condo, but he chose a more rustic, country home instead. This confounded her and heightened her curiosity for a brief moment.

Her mouth proceeded to ask him about his choice of décor when the hot sensation of his tongue running across her nape of her throat caused all of her words to turn into that of a soft moan. She leaned her head back against the wall he had her leaning against while one of her hands held onto the back of his wavy hair in a tight, firm grip, displaying, physically, how turned on she was at the moment.

"Oh my god, Mark." She whispered. Her emotions ravaged her soft voice, heightening the level of need for him in it. "I have missed being like this with you."

"Do you mean like this?" Mark asked. He kept his voice at a sensually dripping level while his groin started to rub against the crotch of her pants, grinding his growing hard on that was concealed against her covered pussy. "Or do you mean like…this?"

A loud, high pitch whine escaped from her mouth due to him humping her through the clothes that kept her skin from his. The sensation of the fabric rubbing against her body in the most intimate of places sent her off into the deep end of desire.

"Damn you, Mark." She maintained a soft yet lustful sound to her voice as she was within his grasp. "You were always good at getting me turned on and excited."

"I am still good at it. In fact…I am even better at getting you excited and turned on to the point of your hands wanting to rip my clothes off, and run your fingertips across the ripples of muscle that are just waiting for you underneath this top."

"If you keep this up…It won't take me long from getting to that point with you, Mark."

"Is that a threat?"

"That is a fact, Mark."

"Well then…Let's not waste a second more about the issue at hand, and make the fact a physical act that is happening at this moment in time."

Ella found his mouth to be sucking against the spot on her neck where his tongue had been while his crotch continued to rub against hers while her round ass cheeks were being kneaded with his hands. She closed her eyes, and whined out louder than the last one, revealing what his efforts were doing for her.

_Oh my fucking god! I can't stand him doing this to me! I can't handle it when he teases me like this. I need to feel his skin against mine, and his throbbing cock buried deep inside of my body._

Her body gave control over her sense to the overwhelming lust that had consumed her in such a short amount of time. She tightened her grip on the back of his head while her other hand slipped up, and tugged at the bottom of his shirt that was tucked down inside of his trousers. Ella tucked at the material until she got the bottom of the shirt out, and gave herself a way to get at his chest from underneath his shirt.

_Stop it right now, Ella! _Her conscience roared at her from within her mind due to the situation rising between him and her at the base of his stairs. _You have to prevent his from going any further!_

_ I don't have to do shit! _Ella snapped at her rational side for having interrupted her moment with Mark. _I am going to do what I want, not what you want._

_ You truly have lost your mind! Are you really planning on tossing away your reputation that you have built over the course of the time he has been gone for a moment of sexual release?!_

_ You're damn right!_

_ What will people say?!_

_ I don't care about what others will say! The only thing I care about right now is focusing on the attractive man that I am with right now, and making it all the way to his room in hopes of us having mind blowing sex with one another in privacy._

_ Ella-_

_ That is all I have to say to you. Now…I suggest that you leave me be, and go away. My attention will be on Mark for the rest of the time that I am with him, and my goal will be making him very satisfied just like he will do the same for me._

Ella slowly started to notice her conscience to be retreating to the recesses of her mind, leaving her to be with her raging hormones, and the person that had caused her to be like the way that she was at the moment.

Finding herself to be free from her overbearing rational side, she slipped herself back into the moment with him by slipping her hand that had pulled his shirt out of the front of his pants under it, and caressing his smooth skin with the tips of her fingers. She shivered from his warm body making contact with her in a way that she had not experienced in over two years. Her ears caught the soft sound of a growl escaping from Mark's mouth that was pressed against the nape of her neck, firmly. The vibration alone made a soft whine to slip out of her mouth.

"Oh my…" Mark said, speaking in a muffled sound against a side of her throat. "You still have the ability to make me horny as hell by just the simple touch of your hand brushing your fingertips making contact with the muscles of my chest."

"I…I guess I still got the touch like you do."

"I believe that it is time we move this to a more…proper setting."

"You read my mind, Mark."

A smirk danced across her face from the notion of him wanting to race her up the stairs to his room with his arms keeping her feet off the ground due to her fingertips of one of her hands making contact with his abdomen. The idea that she turned him on to the degree that he was wanting to take her straight away to his bedroom made her feel even more empowered and confident with herself.

A soft gasp escaped from her mouth due to him pulling her away from the wall, and heading up the stairs with her nestled within his grasp. Ella eased her eyes opened from the sensation of his mouth moving away from her neck. She focused her stare onto his, and hear hearing on what he was fixing to say in his deep southern voice that always captivated her.

"You are truly an enigma, Ella."

"Why do you say that, Mark?" Ella asked him, keeping her voice soft and not above a whisper. "Why would you consider me to be an enigma?"

"I will find myself thinking that I have you figured out only to discover you taking a completely different way from what I thought you would take."

"So…I am an enigma because…I choose to be different?"

"You are an enigma to me because you are a mystery, Ella. I can never get you figured out."

"Is that a good or bad thing, Mark?"

"It's a terrific thing for me."

"Why is that?"

"I wouldn't be as nearly turned on at the moment with you right now if you were just a 'plain Jane'. Your differences make you special, unique…and sexy as hell to me."

"I will take that as a compliment."

A warm smile danced across her face upon hearing all he said to her. Ella loved how Mark liked her for being different and not joining the crowd. It was that fact alone that made her want him even more than she had before.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she maintained her trance with him as her body sensed him to be backing them up in the direction of a nearby open doorway with his body crossing over the entrance to the room first.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter Ten_

Crossing over the threshold of his room, Mark turned around for her back to face the direction of his king size bed that he made himself out of wood from the forest that stretched beyond the back of his home. His hands worked her legs from around his waist in a soft gesture, and eased her down onto the hardwood floor of his master suite. He looked down upon her with an overwhelming sexual hunger pouring out from his piercing stare with his sincere feelings for her mingling in with it.

_This is the point of no return…She has the power to keep this going for the both of us, or turn me away. Any kind of future that we might have at this moment is nestled deep within her grasp._

Mark maintained the fierce gaze on her with his unbridled need for her pouring out from his eyes while his deep voice escaped out of his mouth in a tone that matched his voice.

"Ella…" He said, whispering to her, "You have to make an important decision right now. If you truly want this as much as I do, I won't let you be disappointed, and show you I can still take your breath away in a more physical way."

"What if I don't want this as much as you do?" Ella asked. Her voice shook slightly with nervousness and an unseen fear. Would you respect my choice to not have sex with you?"

His heart tightened at the suggestion of her refusing him when he wanted her so bad, but the shaky sound in her voice calmed his raging fear. She was nervous about the idea of them having sex since they hadn't been intimate with one another in over two years. He was determined to rid her of those feelings, and leave her feeling like she did the night they first had sex with one another in the bed of his pick-up truck he had during their dating period.

Mark moved himself a bit closer to her, and cupped a side of her face, gently, within his grasp. His palm pressed against her soft, fair skin on the side of her face it was on. He watched her eyes flutter the fear and nervousness away, slightly, from his hand having made contact with her skin as his voice escaped from the confines of his mouth with an unconditional love for her pouring out of it.

"Ella, regardless of whatever you choose to do from this point forward, I will support your decision."

He noticed that she was struggling for a moment to speak since the closeness of his body to hers made it a little hard for her to find her voice.

"It's not that I don't want this, Mark. I want nothing more than us to get naked, and get right down to us having mind blowing sex with each other in this large bed of yours."

"Then what is the issue?" He maintained the current tone to his voice while fighting a smirk that was attempting to spread across his face. "What is the real problem that you have about making love to one another?"

He noticed her to be biting down on the bottom lip of her mouth before she looked towards her feet at the same time her confession slipped out in a soft whisper.

"I don't want us to have sex, and…have you not wanting anything else to do with me. I can't have that kind of rejection for a second time, Mark."

Of course... Mark understood why Ella was hesitant about them having sex with one another at that very moment. The last time they had sex, he dumped her and left for Los Angeles, California for two years without even considering how she felt about it. She didn't want him to disappear again, and reject her if they had sex with each other.

Moving his hand down to rest underneath her chin, Mark cupped it in a gentle grasp, and lifted it up. He brought her eyes back to being at a level to where they made contact with his before his deep, southern voice spoke up in a soothing sound.

"Ella…There is no way that I will leave you for a second time, especially after we have sex with each other."

"How do I know that you won't rush off to L.A. again, and leave me behind here without so much as being concerned for my own feelings?"

"Because…I will be taking you with me wherever I go to next if I choose to ever leave Lexington again."

His eyes brightened a bit upon catching a look of shock dancing across her once disheartening expression she had out of fear of him leaving her again to be alone after they have sex with each other for the first time in the last two years.

"E-Excuse me?"

"I believe you heard me just fine the first time I said it, darling."

"You…You mean to tell me that you would take me with you wherever you go if you decide to ever leave Lexington again for a job in another city?"

"That's right."

"I am having a hard time believing that right now."

"Why is that?"

"I just don't understand why you would take me with you wherever you go when it would be so easy for you to turn around, and walk away from me without so much as looking back to see if I was there behind you."

Mark could tell that his confession troubled her mind, and caused her to be highly confused about what he had said to her. He wanted to ease the concern and uncertainty from her mind, and only leave a sense of calm and pleasure there.

Moving a step closer to bring his body less than a foot from hers, he moved his face in towards hers while his hand remained on the underside of her chin. His mouth lingered a few inches from hers for a moment, whispering out a simple statement to her.

"Perhaps…this will ease the concern from your mind, and show you why I can't walk away from you right now or ever again."

Closing his eyes, Mark moved the rest of the way, and pressed his strong lips against her trembling mouth. He sealed Ella into a tender yet passionate kiss with the intent to show her that he wasn't all about what she thought he was on the stairway of his home. Aidan wanted her to see that despite his outward appearance, he was still the same sweet, loving country boy that had loved her from their childhood.

With his mouth against hers, his hand that had cradled her chin slowly released itself, and trailed its fingers from her chin down a side of her neck, and across the skin that was available to him on one of her arms while his other hand was doing the same movement to her other arm.

Slowly, Mark started to realize that Ella had begun to kiss him back with the same tenderness and passion that he initiated the kiss with. His emotions started to relax the tension from his mind. A faint smile moved across his face as he took this as a sign that she had started to lose the emotions of concern and confusion and replaced them with comfort and pleasure instead.

His mouth pressed a little harder against hers, and opened a little bit. He moved his hands down her arms to where her waist was, and grasped onto her sides in a firm grip.

_I have missed doing this so much. No other woman made this feel more right than Ella does right now. The way her curvy frame is in my hands and against my body excites me beyond all words that I could even try to use properly. Those size zero girls have nothing on the voluptuous, curvaceous woman that is standing in front of me right now._

His hormones started to rage like they had at the base of the stairs when he had himself nestled between her firm thighs with his groin grinding against her crotch through their clothes that separated their bodies from one another. The image of the brief moment he shared with her flashed across his mind, and added fuel to the fire that was feeding his unbridled desire and primal lust at the moment.

His strong hands started to massage her hips from where they were on her curvy frame a little bit. A soft moan escaped from his parted lips that were pressed against her sealed ones. He ran the tip of his tongue across her tender mouth to tempt her with it, and grant it entrance to the sweet warmth that dwelled deep within. Slowly, Mark found Ella's lips to be parting, and giving him silent permission for his tongue to slip inside. His tongue slipped in only to be greeted with an overwhelming sensation that shot straight through to the core of his burning desire and unadulterated lust.

_Oh my god! I can't even begin to come up with words to properly describe how I am feeling at the moment. The way her mouth tastes and makes me feel is driving me up the wall with an intense level of desire that is making it incredibly hard for me to not toss her on the bed and have sex with her right here…right now._

His body shook with an intense need to rip off the clothes that separated their flesh from being pressed against each other, falling onto his bed with her, and fucking her like an animal in heat. He couldn't deny what he felt inside of his body anymore. Ella was what he wanted, and he wouldn't be able to find peace if he walked away from her at that moment.

His hands gripped a little harder at her sides, and massaged her a little bit more. A soft moan escaped from his mouth as he moved his mouth against hers, gradually deepening the kiss with her as the minutes ticked by. He slowly started to tug at her top she had on, and pulled the bottom of the shirt up a little bit more to expose her soft, fair skin that was hidden beneath it on her midsection. Lifting her shirt up, Mark discovered several of his fingertips on each of his hands dancing across her body, and the soft sound of her moaning to be reverberating inside the recess of his mouth.

Damn it all to hell. Mark wanted nothing more at that moment than to rip off his clothes, as well as Ella's clothes, and tossing her on his bed. He didn't wish to wait for another minute to pass by with her standing right there in front of him. There was nothing to stop him from doing what he wanted to do with her. It was now or never.

His hands slowly moved up a little more under her top, caressing her soft skin with his strong hands, while he worked his mouth away from hers and down a side of her face towards her jawline. Mark listened in on the soft sounds of her moaning a bit in a whispery voice as his strong mouth left a trail of fire from her mouth down towards the nape of her neck where he was moving his lips to.

"Oh my goodness…" Ella whispered, gasping the words out. Her uncontrollable need for the moment to continue between the two of them made itself very noticeable and hard to ignore. "I have not experienced this in such a long time, Mark. I didn't think that I would ever feel your touch and kisses again."

"Never say never, Ella." He said, muffled against the soft skin on her neck. His voice escaped out in almost an animalistic growl against her soft, fair skin of her throat. "I always told you to never say never when we were together…just like I am telling you now."

"I love the way that your hands are moving against my body and how you are kissing me right now, Mark. The two combined are driving me to the brink of pleasure and passion. I can handle one…but not both at the same time. I might just burst into flames from this."

"I am not going to let you burst and explode before we have a chance to spend our first night in my new home in each other's arms."

Mark would be damned if he allowed something as silly as Ella exploding or melting on the spot from what he had planned for her. He wouldn't allow anyone or anything to come between him or the woman that he loved with all of his heart and soul. Tonight…He was going to show her what he had been suppressing for the last two years until he could see her beautiful face and curvaceous frame again.

Pulling his mouth away from her neck, Mark locked his piercing stare with her own eyes from where he stood before her frame. He brought his hands to a stopping point just underneath the soft fabric of her bra that she had on underneath her tank top with the bottom of her tank top pulled up to the same spot in his trembling hands that were wanting to yank it off. He managed to swallow down a lump that had grown there in his throat with little to no difficulty, and speak up in his southern voice that was dripping with pure, unadulterated sexual hunger for her.

"Ella…I need to feel you more than ever before. I cannot stand us being apart like we have been over the years. The only thing that I want right now…is to spend tonight and perhaps the nights to come with you beside me in my bed."

"Mark…I am a little frightened by the thought of us having sex again when-"

"I swear to you that when you wake up in the morning, I will be right here in the bed with you to keep you safe, and to make you feel loved and wanted."

"Really…?"

"I mean it with all of my heart and soul, Ella. There is nothing that is going to keep me from spending every moment from this point forward with you. No man or beast is going to take you away from me without having to deal with the mother of all ass kickings from me."

Mark spoke from the heart. He wanted her to realize that there was nothing that would stop him from being with her anymore. No man or animal was going to come between Ella and him without their life either ending or their bodies being severely injured by his hands.

His eyes captured her to be smiling a bit while at the same time hearing her let out a soft chuckle at the statement he had made before she proceeded to speak up in her sweet, southern accent.

"You are still the same good 'ol boy that I went out with for such a long time with the same attitude towards anyone that would dare to come between you and me."

"Let me show exactly how strong I feel about you…right…now…"

Before he could let her get out another word, Mark slipped his hands down from being under her shirt, and let it fall down to rest where it had been at the tops of her pants. He moved one of his arms around the middle of her back while his other one swept her out from underneath her feet, cradling the backs of her knees. Maintaining the charming smirk on his face, Mark carried her over in the direction of his large bed that awaited them both.


	11. Chapter 11

_Note: I do not own anything to do with the WWE or having anything to do with the character of The Undertaker. I wrote this fanfiction for enjoyment and admiration of the characters involved. I will mention though that this fanfiction will be turned into an actual book for those of my fans on here who enjoy my works of romantic fiction._

_Chapter Eleven_

Ella's smile widened a bit larger due to Mark's rash and quick behavior involving picking her up, and moving them in the direction of where the large bed was nestled in his master bedroom. She clearly saw how turned on he was, and that it matched her intense lust for his strong hands to roam all over her body and his strong lips to caress her skin in ways that it hadn't been since the last time they had sex with each other over two years ago.

_Are you sure about this, Ella? _Her conscience asked, attempting to get a last attempt on putting some temptation in her mind that would cause her to back out of what she intended to do with him at the moment. _You don't have to do this._

_ I know that I don't have to do this… _Ella silently answered her rational side, responding to its attempt on swaying her away from what she truly wanted at that moment with all of her heart and soul. _…but this is something that I want to do._

_ You are setting yourself up for yet another let down, Ella._

_ How am I setting myself up for another let down?_

_ Do you honestly think that Mark is going to stay with you this time around?_

_ I have no reason to doubt him now._

_ Ella…_

_ I believe that he has turned over a new leaf, and that he is not the same person that he was two years ago that left me crying._

_ I can't believe that you are being so blind and stupid-_

_ That is quite enough! I will not listen to you harass me for a second longer!_

_ You have to fight this! You can't allow-_

_ I have listened to your ranting and ravings for far too long!_

Before her conscience could retort back at her, Ella cut all of the communication with the rational side of her being as soon as she had made her last statement to it. She wasn't going to allow anyone or anything come between her and the object of her desires, Detective Mark Callaway. There was nothing that was going to prevent this moment from escalating any further.

Keeping her eyes focused on him from where he held her in his arms, the soft fabric of his bedding rubbing against the backs of her legs and arms brought her back to reality. She fluttered her gaze a bit before she took note of her surroundings. Ella allowed herself a few moments to soak in his silky covers and pillows before she moved her eyes in the direction of where Mark stood beside the bed. Her eyes captured a look of unbridled, sexual hunger pouring out of his piercing stare while he spoke to her in a way that matched his desires for her.

"Ella…" Mark whispered. His southern accent in his deep voice heightened the lustful side of his being that had been hiding beneath the surface until that very moment. "You have no idea how badly I have wanted to see you on my bed since the last time we were intimate with one another."

His words, as well as his piercing gaze, fueled the already burning desires and lusts deep inside of her. He is everything she could want, and need. The thought of looking for another man to satisfy her seemed to be absolutely ridiculous and stupid. There was no other man for her other than the one that was looking down at her from the side of the bed that she was nestled in the middle of his large, handmade bed.

Allowing herself to act on the emotions that were making themselves known on the surface, Ella moved herself to sit on her knee caps with her ass resting on the back of her hills. She looked towards the direction of his eyes from where she was nestled on the bedding while her hands reached out, and gently grasped onto a spot on the fabric where the clear buttons were nestled upon it.

"And you have no idea how badly I have been missing you over these past two years, and wanting to be with you like this." Ella said, softly. She spoke in a sensually dripping whisper that exposed all of the yearnings that were going on deep inside the recess of her mind, as well as her soul. "No man has ever enticed me in the ways that you have in the last two years, Mark."

"I think that I made the biggest mistake of my life when I decided to leave for Los Angeles without you beside me."

"I have already forgiven for you that…but I am sure there is another way that I can think of that you can make it up to me."

With having said that, her fingertips started to unbutton the shirt that kept his upper body hidden from her eyes. She could feel her fingers trembling with both nervousness and excitement at being able to touch the flesh of his ripped upper torso once again while her eyes were focused on his.

The temptation of his body in front of her own was too much for her to maintain her normal composed behavior. Mark represented everything she wanted, needed, and yearned for in the past two years, but didn't have the means of finding someone that could even resemble a portion of what he presented to her. Now that she had him right in front of her eyes, there was no way that she was going to allow him to slip away again unless he took her with him.

She slipped the last button out of the hole, freeing the shirt to slide open and reveal a small portion of ripped muscles that were on his abdomen and chest. Her eyes lowered from his, and focused on the direction of where his physically fit and attractive body stood in front of where she was knelt on his bed. Ella eased her hands up towards the top of his shirt, and grasped onto both sides of the opened shirt, gently. She gave a gentle tug on the shirt, and began to slide it in opposite directions, slipping the fabric over the backs of his broad shoulders. Her hands pushed the shirt down his strong arms until it fell away from his body. Ella's eyes soaked in the sight of his majestic physique, and let the memory of when she first stayed the night with him flash across her eyes, reminding her of how he had taken her breath away in that one evening and leave her wanting for more even after he dumped her.

_Oh my god…I can't believe that I am actually with Mark again like this. I have had so many dreams in the last two years of when we were intimate with each other away from the prying eyes of my parents and the overprotective friends that I have. Now…I get to make those dreams a long awaited reality._

The knowledge of what was fixing to happen between Mark and herself only intensified her excitement for the moment. No other sensation could take the place of the emotions that were ravaging her body like they were at the moment. There was no way in hell that she was going to back out of having sex with him in the way that she wished to.

Slowly, Ella lifted her hands up, and placed several of her fingertips against the ripples of muscles on the upper part of his chest. Her eyes trailed over the toned flesh that was before herself as she caressed him like she had two years prior when they were first intimate with one another. Ella reached halfway down his chest when her ears noticed a soft growl of pleasure emitting from his body. The sound caused her to lift her head up, and tilted her head in the direction of where his face was nestled.

Looking down upon her, Mark's eyes gazed upon her with an intense look of unadulterated lust and desire. He moved his face closer towards hers while his hands moved onto the small of her back, and gathered up a small amount of her shirt within his strong fingers. The skin of his forehead pressed down against hers from where he was before her while his mouth was just a few inches from her own.

"You have no idea what you do to me, Ella." Mark forced the words out of his mouth in a shaky sounding voice due to the high level of need that he had for her. "Just the feeling of your fingertips dancing across my chest and abdomen does things to me that I cannot even explain."

Ella proceeded to speak but only let out a soft gasp, as well as closed her eyes, due to the tingling sensation of his fingertips dancing against the soft skin of the small of her back. She inhaled a deep breath of air through her nose and released it out through the opening in her lips at the same time her body was shivering all over from the way that his hands were pulling her top up towards her head.

"Mark…" Ella whispered out his name, finding it hard to speak at first due to the intense amounts of pleasure and excitement that had started to engulf her senses, and make it really hard for her to speak to him. "The way that your fingers are moving across my back right now as you are sliding my tank top up towards my head is enough to set my soul aflame, and cause me to turn to ash right here in your hands."

"I share those same feelings, my love. I plan to show you the same fire that you and I shared two years ago when we first were intimate with one another in ways that no words can possibly describe."

_You have no idea how long I have been waiting to hear you those words to me again, Mark. I have been spending many lonely nights since that very evening wishing and hoping that you would say that very statement to me, and be with me in my bed to take my breath away like you did. _

Ella decided at that very moment that she wouldn't even consider the thought of consulting her conscience for any kind of suggestions since she knew it would only tell her to walk away from him, and don't look back at the man that stole her breath in ways that no other man could even dream of doing. He is everything she could ask for, and there would be no other that could do that to her.

Finding the shirt to be at her underarms, Ella took the time to slowly remove her hands from his chest, and lift her arms up over head for him to ease the shirt from her body, and to expose the white, strapless bra she had placed on underneath it prior before her planned morning run. She waited until he removed her white tank top from her body before she tilted her head to a side, and pressed her mouth against his. Her lips sealed with his in a kiss that dripped with an extreme amount of sensual desperation that had been burning deep within her soul for the last few moments. She moved her hands back down, and pressed her bare palms against the tops of his broad, muscular shoulders. Her fingertips dug slightly into his smooth skin for leverage to keep herself from falling backwards from him on the bed.

Almost instantly, Ella discovered the warmth of the inside of his mouth flooding inside of hers, filling her taste buds with the same sweetness and erotic taste that she had experienced the first time that she had ever kissed him when they were dating. The overwhelming feeling nearly knocked her right off of her knee caps, but she managed to cling to his shoulders for leverage to keep herself from falling back and away from him.

_Oh my god! I forgot how he has the ability to literally knock me right off of my feet with just something as simple as a kiss. I should have remembered the way he stole my breath when we were in the privacy of my old bedroom back at my parents' house, as well as the first time he kissed me with full on passion._

The moment of intense emotion only reaffirmed what Ella already knew deep down inside of her being. Mark was not about to turn away from this moment just as she was not fixing to leave him, and not act on the moment that was at hand. There was no way that she would be the same after sharing a night pleasure with the man she had been with before. Ella didn't want this to ever end, and she planned to enjoy it for as long as she could manage to.

The smooth, silky sensation of his bedding brushing up against the back of her body caused her to slowly ease out of the kiss with him. She fluttered her eyes, and pulled her mouth back a little bit from his. Ella focused her eyes up towards his direction to find his piercing gaze focused solely upon herself. Her hands slowly moved to the back of her strapless bra and started to unhook it from where she had it confined at the present moment while she kept the eye contact with him from where she was nestled on her back on his large bed.

_You know that you don't have to go any farther than this, Ella. _Her rational side voiced its concern about her going all the way with Mark for the second time in two years. _You can stop now before you get yourself hurt again._

_ There is no way in hell that I am going to stop now. _Ella responded to her conscience almost instantly once she heard it suggesting for her to walk away from that moment once again. _I know what I want to do, and I am fixing to do it with the man that I love with all of my heart and soul._

_ Love?! How can you possibly say that you love a man that walked out on you two years ago after you lost your virginity to him?!_

_ It is something that I am sure that you would never be able to understand. Even though Mark did walk out on me, and leave me alone for the last two years…He is the only man that truly matched me in not only my wits and fiery strength…but he showed me a side of him that is loving, caring, and kind. Mark is a man who is genuine through and through, but who also has his own faults at the same time. I am not looking to turn away from him when he needs me as much as I need him right now._

_ What if he does walk out on you for a second time?_

_ Well…If that does happen this time around, I will be able to handle it better than I did the first time when it happened. I am sure though that he is not going to say those words to me that he said to me before he drove away from my parents' home, and leaving me in tears running down my cheeks._

_ How do you know that?_

_ I just know deep down inside. _

Ella secretly knew that there was the possibility that he could walk away from her once he has sex with her for the second time in the last two years, but there was something else that made it seem like just a fantasy of him leaving.

His eyes…His piercing gaze looked down at her with an intense amount of pleasure and desire that showed her he was not leaving her anytime soon. The only place that he wanted to be at that moment was there with her in his massive bed.

Building up her reassurance of him being there with her beyond that very moment, her hands unhooked the last snap on her bra, and eased the white fabric away from her round, firm breasts. She looked up to his eyes from where she was nestled before him on his bedding for his reaction to her revealing the bare upper part of her body.

"My god…" Mark whispered. His southern accent gave away the amazement he was experiencing from witnessing Ella's perfect breasts. "I forgot another reason why I regretted in not taking you with me to Los Angeles, Ella."

"What is the other reason?"

"You have the most perfect body on the planet, and none of those girls in Hollywood can match up to what you can offer."

"You are a true flatter, Mark."

"Is that a bad thing to be?"

"Not at all…I find that to be a very good thing right about now."

"Let me make it up to you for having disappeared from your life for such a long time."

Before she had the chance to respond, Ella's body registered his hands slipping onto her midsection, and dancing across her curves that she had to offer him. She moved her eyes down to see his hands trailing across her soft skin in the direction of the elastic band on her track pants.


	12. Chapter 12

_Note: I do not have anything to do with the WWE or have anything to do with the character of The Undertaker. I wrote this fanfiction as admiration for his character. I do promise though that I will be publishing this in a book form for all of those who wish to read it in paper and online._

_Chapter Twelve_

_Finally…after spending what seemed to be endless amounts of nights alone in that penthouse they had me staying at in Los Angeles, as well as the few nights that I have been here setting things up…I am going to have the pleasure of having the company of a beautiful woman in my bed for once. There is no other woman that I would want in my bed more right than Ella right now. _

Mark couldn't bring himself to even think about walking away from her at the very moment. The sight of her on her back with a look of sexual hunger burning in her gaze that matched his told him exactly what he already knew. Ella wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Keeping his attention focused primarily on her, Mark leaned down, and brushed his strong mouth across her soft, pink lips in a tender yet sensual fashion. He trembled against her mouth due to a rising amount of excitement, as well as a flame of lust that was fueling his raging hormones.

_Mm…I can't get enough of her kisses. She has a sweet, erotic taste that I have not experienced from any other woman in the past two years. She is reason enough for me to take her with me if I ever go back to Los Angeles, or anywhere in the world that I might end up in next. There is no way I am going to leave her behind for a second time._

Mark snapped himself out of the thoughts he was experiencing due to the sensation of Ella's mouth applying a little bit of pressure against his, and releasing a soft moan inside of it. His muscles tightened all over his body, including those in his already hardened cock that was pressing firmly against his zipper on his trousers with only the fabric of his crimson boxers keeping his shaft safe from brushing up against the metal clasp that kept his zipper together.

Mark found himself using all of his strength he had deep inside of his body to keep from just ripping off their remaining clothes, and fucking her like an animal in heat like he was longing to do at the moment. Despite his wish to just go right to having sex with her, he wanted to take his time with her, and remind her of the passionate night that they shared over two years ago

Moving his lips against hers, Mark placed hot kisses against her mouth that was eager for them. He lingered on her mouth for a few moments to satisfy the desires that were eating away at her at the moment. His hands trembled on where they were grasping onto the elastic waist band of her pants, fighting the urge to get inside of them, as well as in her panties she had on. Moving himself to be between her legs a little more than he had been before, Mark trailed his kisses away from her mouth, and started them down her jawline in the direction of where the nape of her neck was on the right side of her throat.

"Mark…" Ella said, whispering. She spoke in a soft moan that had been brought on due to his sensual lips brushing across the complexion of her body on her throat, and his hands tugging slightly on her exercise trousers she had put on for the jog she never went on in the first place. "I have dreamed of being like this with you so many times that I have lost track of the number at this point."

"Well…" Mark said, muffled. "Consider this to be your dream becoming a reality." He spoke against her fair, gentle skin as his lips sent off little sparks of pleasure throughout her curvaceous body. "However…I won't be disappearing like I do in your dreams, and leaving you alone in your bed."

"And why is that, Mark?"

"Because I would rather die than be without you in my life for even a moment."

"Have I made that much of an impression on you that you are planning to hang around, Mark?"

"How's this for an answer?"

Before she could get out another word, Mark moved his mouth further down from her throat, and bushed it across the tops of her bare breasts. His ears picked up on the sound of Ella letting out a sharp gasp once he had started to place hot kisses around her firm bosoms. A smirk danced across his face once the discovery of his former girlfriend being silenced by the sensation of his mouth kissing at her skin settled inside of his mind.

_Looks like I still got it. For a moment there, I was getting scared that I had lost the ability to cause her to go speechless unless it was kissing her on the mouth to keep hers shut or moving my hands up and down, as well as across, her curvaceous body. Good to see that my mouth is still able to take her breath away in another way besides kissing her on the lips._

The knowledge that he had caused Ella to break for him in a way that had her complying to his desires fueled not only his confidence but also his hormones that were adding its own fuel to the fire that was burning deep inside of his being. Her current state of arousal intensified his to a point where words could not properly explain it.

Moving his mouth onto her right nipple, Mark slowly begun to suck on it in a teasing yet sensual manner. The tip of his tongue lightly flicked at it to get a reaction out of her from where he was hovering over her body. He noticed a soft whine escaping from her mouth a bit before she managed to silence it from coming out any longer by biting her bottom lip and grabbing onto his silk bedding.

_It looks like Ella is still trying to hold out even though her body is putty in my hands. Perhaps it is time that I add a little something extra to the moment with her to get her moans and whines to come rushing out of her lips._

Mark started to think wildly about what to do in order to make Ella scream out in pleasure. He wanted to hear her beg him for release from what he was doing to her at the moment by putting his throbbing manhood deep inside of her body that was already showing signs of wanting it really badly.

Acting upon the first instinct that came to him, his tongue started to swirl around not only the tip of her nipple, but also around the curves of her breast in an attempt to suck on it a little bit more. He slipped one of his hands up her body, and moved it over her breast that was still uncovered while his mouth was busy at the moment. Mark applied pressure to the one that his grip was under, kneading and massaging it, while his strong lips were passionately kissing and sucking away at her other breast.

"Mark…"

His ears picked up on the sound of Ella calling out his name in as similar whine that she had stopped beforehand. He found the whine to show signs of how turned on she truly was at the moment despite her best attempt to keep it secret from him. Mark's arousal and confidence grew tenfold from finding the only woman he has truly loved to be calling out to him, and wanting more of what he was doing to her at the moment.

He moved his hand that was still grasping the waistband of her pants underneath them, and slipped down to where the crotch of her panties were. His fingers found the undergarments to be damp with her own juices to the heat of the moment that she was under at the moment.

_Excellent. She is dripping wet right now for me. It is time for me to see if she is ready to go all the way with me for the second time in the last two years, or if I am going to have to do torture her with a little more intense amount of pleasure that will leave her unable to release herself from without my assistance in the matter._

Keeping his hand underneath her clothes that were covering her lower half, Mark lifted his head up from her breast that he had been sucking on, and turned his attention completely onto her face. He found her eyes to be closed even though her facial expression exposed the intense amount of sexual need she had for him even though she was trying to fight if off. Mark glanced over at her hands, and discovered them to be gripping onto his silk comforter as tightly as she could manage, giving him another sign that she was on the brink of giving in to the desires and lusts that were eating away at her insides. He moved his attention back towards her face as his face moved in close to hers. His mouth pulled in a breath of air through a small opening, and released it with his deep, southern voice coming out in a highly sensual tone to give her additional excitement.

"Ella…" He whispered, letting his words dance across her skin with his breath emanating from his lips, "I have waited for this moment for such a long time that I can't stand for us to be away a second longer from each other. I need to feel your skin against mine, and give all of me to you. I want to be with you like we once were. Tell me that you want the same of me, and I will end this torment of separation that has plagued us for the last two years."

Mark chose to forgo stripping her clothes, as well as his own, off and jump right into having sex with her. He wanted to hear her tell him the words he longed to hear from her over the time she had been absent from his life, and he had been from hers. His heart longed to hear her tell him that she wanted this as much as he did, and that she needed him in her life like he needed her.

His eyes watched hers open up, and gaze to him with a look that dripped with the same unbridled passion she had for him the night she lost her virginity to him. Keeping them fixated on her, Mark noticed the sensation of one of her hands sliding onto a side of his face, and cupping his cheek before he picked up on the sound of her gentle voice coming out of the confines of her soft, pink lips.

"Mark," Ella said, "I thought I would stay mad at you, and remain distant to you while I remain in your care due to you leaving my life like you did. However…I can't deny how much I want you right now to make love to me like you did so long ago. I need you so much right now…there are no words to describe it to really do it justice."

Mark thought for a moment that his heart would burst with joy upon hearing the woman he loves more than life itself confess to him that she needed and wanted him as badly as he yearned and longed for her.

He leaned in a little closer to her face, and pressed his lips against hers, sealing them both into a heated kiss full of burning passion and unbridled desire. A soft groan escaped from his mouth into hers, and mixed with a moan that was coming out of her mouth at the same time, and slipping inside of his own. His lips lingered on hers for a few more savoring moments, wanting to taste the sweet, honey-like flavor that was nestled deep within hers. Slowly, Mark pulled his mouth away from hers, and looked down at her with a primal lust pouring out of his eyes, and causing his deep voice to sound even deeper with almost an animalistic sound to it.

"Let me take control…and show you what I have been dreaming about doing in this bed to you for the last two years."


	13. Chapter 13

_Note: I have nothing to do with the WWE or with The Undertaker. This was written for enjoyment, and as a medium for my writing since this will be transformed into an actual book._

_Chapter Thirteen_

Once she heard him tell her to let him do it all, and show he what he had been dreaming about doing to her for the last two years, Ella knew that he was referring to him having mind blowing sex with her in his massive bed with no one around to interrupt them, and that she was not about to turn that offer away.

Her eyes remained fixated on his gaze that just poured out to her with his intent on being the one in control while they have sex with one another. Keeping her gaze focused on his, Ella nodded her head up and down, slightly, as she spoke up to him in a soft yet shaky tone of voice.

"All I ask Mark is that you take it easy on me." Ella pleaded to him out of uncertainty and nervousness about what he had planned for her at that moment. "It has been two years since we have had sex with one another, and I haven't been intimate with any man since then."

"Trust me, Ella…" Mark replied. "I am going to take really…really good care of your body."

She couldn't help but feel a little on edge about the prospect of her having sex with the very person that she gave herself to. Ella had made a promise that she wouldn't allow herself to let have sex with him if he ever made the offer to her again. However, here she was breaking that two-year-old promise. Ella couldn't hold back her feelings or emotions that she had for him, as well as the fact that she was insanely horny from how he had teased her a few moments earlier.

Maintaining her eyes on his face, her focus waivered upon a tingling sensation at her hips. She lowered her gaze, and discovered the source to be that of Mark's hands getting a hold of the waist band of her pink pants, as well as the band on her white cotton panties, and slowly started to tug at them.

_Stop, Ella! _ Her conscience screamed at her in another desperate attempt to stop her from letting Mark do what he wanted to her at the moment. _You have to stop before this goes to the point where there is no turning back from!_

_ I am already past the point of no fucking return! _Ella snapped at her conscience for invading her thoughts in another attempt to try to sway her away from having a breath taking experience with him. _I believe I told you to leave me alone a numerous amount of times now. I thought you would take the hint. _

_ I can't leave you alone when you are about to throw your life away for the sake of having a one night stand with this asshole!_

_ It is not like that! I am sure that he is not going to treat it that way, and that he wants to be back with me like I want to be with him. Also…His name is Mark!_

_ Ella-_

_ Look, I already told you to get lost one time. I am telling you again…Leave me the fuck alone, and let me enjoy my time with my boyfriend!_

_ Your 'ex' boyfriend, Ella. He is still your ex, and he will always be that…an ex._

Her conscience was right on something. Mark is not her boyfriend. He is her ex-boyfriend, a former lover. As much as she wanted him to be her boyfriend again, Ella could not change the obvious fact, and that was that he is her ex-boyfriend, not her current one.

The rationalization of what her inner voice said to her seemed to rise to the surface on her face due to the sensation of Mark's hands stopping with the process of removing her trousers and panties from her body. Focusing her gaze in his direction, Ella found his piercing gaze to be holding a concerned look in the place where his sexual hunger had been pouring out towards her a few moments prior.

"What's wrong, Ella?" Mark asked, voicing his feelings of worry about her appearing a little down. "Am I moving too fast? Would you like for me to slow down?"

The discovery of Mark halting any further moments in the removal of the last pieces of her clothing, besides that of the shoes that were still nestled on her feet, alarmed her senses, and made the words she needed to say to him in an attempt to keep him from leaving the moment that was just within their grasp that could possibly not only rekindle what was left of the love that they once had between themselves, but also satisfy desires that had been eating away at herself, as well as him, for the last two years.

"I don't want you to slow down at all, Mark." Ella's voice possessed a plea of urgency for him to avoid the notion of stopping what he was doing or slowing the pace down between the two of them. "I am fine with the speed you are going at, as well as what you are doing at the current moment with me."

"Then why do you have a look on your face that says something else?"

"It is just something stupid."

"Tell me…"

"Mark-"

"I know it is important because it is obviously bothering you. Just tell me what is going on…"

"It is just…Do you view this as being a one night stand, Mak, or do you see this going on further than this current moment in time? I know you said that you wouldn't go anywhere again unless I was at your side…but it is just hard for me to truly believe when you did leave me the last time we were intimate with one another."

Ella silently cursed at herself for revealing to him why she had the expression on her face, but she knew at the same time that she had to find out the truth before she did get in too deep with him. Her heart ached at the thought that he could be viewing this as something in only a physical way, and only told her those things in order to get in her pants, and have another go at her in a sexual way. Secretly, she wanted this to be as sincere as she was believing it to be at first. Her feelings were strong and only for him, as was her obvious arousal. However, she knew that his answer could be her undoing, and send her back to the place she had been before he came back into her life: A distant, dark, and empty spot deep inside the recess of her mind.

Keeping her focus on only his face, she noticed how he had a charming yet loving smile on his face due to what she had said to him. Ella kept her gaze on his as she caught the soft sound of a chuckle escaping out in his deep, southern voice.

"You worry so much about things that are not at all what they really are, Ella."

"How is my asking if this is a one night stand me making it out to be something that it's not?"

"Ella…I have already told you that I don't plan to be without you even when I capture the person who killed your mom and dad."

"There is a difference though between saying and doing it though. How do I know if you are just saying that you will stick around to get inside my-"

Her mouth silenced any further words from coming out of it due to it being sealed closed by Mark's mouth crashing down against it, and placing passionately driven kisses on the outside of it. With the rest of the sentence being muffled, she softened the words that were coming out in mumbles, and transformed them into more of a soft whine of pleasure.

_I believe that I will take this as a sign that he is not just playing with my heart and making a false statement with me. His kisses are an __excellent __way to get any doubt I have about our current situation out of my head, and through the nearest window._

The sensation of his strong lips against her gentle ones made all negative thoughts that had been brought on by her conscience to disappear completely from her brain all together. Ella couldn't disagree with his response he was giving to her at the moment. After all, he chose to display how serious he was about his feelings for instead of just merely saying that he cared for her and wanted her to be with him beyond that night.

Fueled by the sensual kisses, Ella begun to move her tender mouth against his, returning the kiss back to him with the same amount of passion that he was giving to her. She slipped her hands down to where his hands were still holding onto the waistbands of both her pants and undergarments. Ella moved her hands over his, and started to assist him in the removal of her clothes from her body, displaying for him that she was wanting this to keep progressing.

Within a few seconds of her gesture to take control of the situation, she found herself caught off guard by Mark abruptly ending the kiss with her. Ella took a few moments to bring herself back to reality, and focused her eyes back on his face. She tightened up due to the intense sensuality pouring out of Mark's eyes, and started to bring her hands up to where they had been on the sides of her body while her ears picked up on the sound of his voice speaking directly to her in a firm, alluring tone with his southern accent heightening the sensual side of it.

"I will be the one to take off your clothes, Ella." Mark spoke in a whisper even though his voice sounded much louder. "Right now…I am going to show you how much I have missed your curvaceous body, and what the memory of that night of you and I has done to me."

A faint smile started to form on Ella's face due to him wanting to maintain being the one in control of the situation, and doing all the work while she only had to enjoy the ride. Her smile grew a little wider on her face as she lifted her hands off of the bed, and moved into a surrender type of position.

"Very well," Ella replied, "I won't do anything unless you ask me to perform at some point or grant me to touch you like I wish to during our lovemaking session in this massive bed of yours."

"I am not going to be mad if you want to touch me like you want. However…I want to show you what I have dreamed of doing for every night since I left you over two years ago."

Ella found his plea to her to be sincere, and from the depth of his heart. There wasn't anything about the statement he made to her that gave off the vibe of being anything other than honest. She knew that he missed being like this as much as she did.

She gave him a nod of her head, and a reassuring smile to carry on. Her eyes watched him move his eyes down to her lower body before he started to tug at her pants and underwear. Ella moved her gaze to where the last remains of her clothes wee, and watched them being pulled down towards the direction of the sneakers on her feet. She proceeded to kick her shoes off when his hands beat her to it, pulling them off with the last pieces of her clothes.

"Absolutely gorgeous…"

Mark's simple compliment about her body caused her eyes to snap in his general direction, and found him to be standing at the foot of the bed with a look of awe mixing with his own sexual urges that were taking hold of him at the moment. She flashed her own expression of need for him as she spoke with a tone that dripped of nothing but unbridled passionate frenzy.

"I am not the only one who is gorgeous around here when they are naked."

"You are making it very hard for me to remain calm, and keep from fucking you like a dog in heat right now, Ella."

"Mark…I have been wanting to experience us like this for such a long time that at this point…I really don't care if you choose to go fast or slow with the sex. I just know that I need it now more than I have ever needed it."

"In that case…"

Ella caught the sound of him lowering his zipper down before she moved her eyes down the ripples of muscles on his chest. She stopped her gaze at the top of his pants in time to see his hands moving to the zipper, and easing it down enough to show his crimson boxers he had on underneath it. Keeping her eyes focused on him, Ella watched him removing his shoes from his body along with his pants before he tugged his boxers down. Her eyes widened in shock at the discovery of his well-endowed erection that was rock hard and ready for her.

_Oh my god…I forgot how big Mark is. Two years ago, I thought he was going to rip me in half the first time I saw his cock. Now…I have to say that it is exciting me rather than frightening me. _

A smile danced across her face from witnessing his erect dick being ready for her before she could stop it. Moving her eyes towards his face, Ella lifted up one of her hands from where it was on the bed, and gestured towards him to join her.


End file.
